Overcome Destiny
by Linnara
Summary: Six years after the carnival - Natsuki broke up every contact with Shizuru, while the Kyoto-girl tries to find the strength to fight the fate her own father forces upon her. ShizNat
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: Since English isn't my native language and I have absolutely no idea of any grammar of any language in the world, I have to apologize for coming up typos and especially grammar issues. It would be actually cool if you could call my attention on existing errors within my story in your reviews - I will make sure to correct all of them for sure. :-)

**Disclaimer**: Mai HiME and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

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__Overcome destiny_

Romance/General

_Summary_: Natsuki and Shizuru graduated from Fuuka Gakuen. Five years had passed and Natsuki opened a garage, while Shizuru returned to Kyoto to plan her future. ShizNat Rated: T (just in case)

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**Chapter 1**

_My dearest Shizuru,_

_Whenever I think back, I start to think about you. And today is a very special day, which is the reason I cannot stop myself from thinking about you more than usual. It was today eight years ago when we first met, Shizuru, do you know that? Probably not anymore, but for me it is important to hold on this memory with every effort I am able to make._

_So this anniversary is the exact reason I am this sad. After you graduated, you went back to Kyoto to start your studies at Kyoto University. It was your fathers wish and since you have this kind of obligation to fulfil whatever your family asks you for, I let got of you for the sake of your future. It was painful seeing you disappear out of my life, though._

_This is five years ago now, why do I still tend to think about this? It's not like we lost contact… well, unfortunately this isn't the whole truth. When you left, we wrote many letters, phoned at least twice a week and once in a blue moon I visited you in Kyoto. But up until today, our contact is only just a shadow of what it used to be back then. And it was me who decided that it would be best for you if I didn't burden you further that I did anyway._

_But __I miss you, Shizuru. You were my first real friend and nobody can replace you, however Mai, Mikoto or even Nao try to do so. Mai helped me to lessen the initial pain of your leave, so we became good friends, but she couldn't make the pain go away._

_And what about my own life? For four years after my graduation I began to work in a garage to earn my money. It wasn't that bad of a work, even if most people would tend to call it dirty and straining. With my natural talent for machines, my new experience and the money from Searrs, that my mother once received, I was able to open my own garage earlier this year._

_So I made my dream come true and it is even profitable. Somehow the people come to like the 'cold girl in a man's domain'-thing. Whatever..._

_I only hope you are doing as well as I am, but I have a bad feeling about you actually._

_Not only I miss you, but the carefree and nonchalant tone in your sweet Kyoto-ben.__ What saddens me more than our growing loss of contact is my hesitance to send you these special anniversary letters. It helps to write about what I feel and what I think and I'm pretty sure you would appreciate it if I let you read them, but in this regard I'm the worst coward._

_Oh Shizuru, __you have no idea how much I miss you._

_Yours Natsuki_

--

The letter was finished by now and after I put it in its envelope, I did what I do with every personal letter for Shizuru: I hid it. It was kind of depressing not to be able to tell her how much I actually missed her, but someone like me had no right to interfere with her life.

I heard she graduated from Kyoto University some time ago. Actually I read it in the newspaper. I was not surprised to see her mentioned on a national level, even if it was only a small article. Her academic degree was one of the best and this was not only in her age-group. A beautiful, intelligent billionaire-child is worth of mentioning I think.

But I couldn't help being remembered of her graduation at Fuuka Gakuen, when she was still around. This time was so carefree, it didn't even matter that the carnival ended quite recently back then.

Whatever, there was no time for brooding over the past, since the past was something we couldn't change anymore. I know Shizuru tends often to thinking about what happened earlier. One could say she lives in her past. If there was one huge difference in the way of how we live, this is it.

However, I am not Shizuru, therefore I had a little garage to manage and with this no time to replay the foretime of my life.

Today I had Yuuichi Tate's motorcycle on my to-do-list. It was okay and there was nothing wrong with it, but he spent a nice load of cash to buy it, so he wanted to be sure his little baby was alright.

Earlier I used to think he was an idiot, who couldn't even decide which girl he should make happy, but when I learned that Tate had actually a decent sense of taste regarding good machines, I changed my opinion about him. Now I think he is only retarded for buying a Honda and not a Ducati, but there where things in the world that couldn't be helped after all. I am sure Shizuru would agree with me in this point.

It didn't take long to have Tate Mai come over to my place. Yes, she married him three years ago, but since Mai opened a restaurant, they had no time to make their family complete. However, this didn't matter to me; I had enough work to do on my own now.

I cannot say it often enough how lucky I was to get my hands on this building. The garage itself was on the ground floor of course, my apartment was only on the other side of the street. The old owner retired from his work, saying something like he was too old now and how much potential I had, so he helped me to make my dream come true.

"Natsuki? Hello, someone at home?" Mai asked me when I looked at her, startled by her sudden outburst. "Natsuki, how it comes that you space out whenever I visit you? Are you sure you are alright?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, thank you for your concern." I said nonchalantly, trying to avoid having to speak with her about how much I missed the one and only precious person in my life at all.

"Here's your lunch." she said as she walked over to the table where I placed some of my tools to put the luscious bento down. Even if I had the time to cook for myself, my cooking skills were quite bad, so Mai decided to mix up my usual unhealthy fast food menu with some of her cooking. It was a welcome change after all and inwardly I was more than thankful to her.

However, "Ah, thanks." was all I managed to stammer. I wasn't used to depend on someone, so it was unnatural for me to freely accept gestures of friendship or to thank someone for anything. Here I was lucky again, because Mai knew my background and was able to handle with my demeanour.

"Natsuki, why don't you at least try to make more friends? I cannot check on you every day, you know?" Mai said with an annoyed voice. To socialize with others is one of her strongest traits. No wonder she succeeded in winning me as a friend.

"I have you and Mikoto, so why bother with other people?" I answered her in all honesty and she knew I was right. Until now I didn't need many people around me and I saw no reason either to change this attitude of mine.

Mai sighed once more and didn't push further into this topic. It was futile, after all.

"And how are things going with your garage?" Mai asked in an attempt to change the topic. Now this is something I was more eager to speak about.

"It isn't easy. Those bastards only see a little girl in me." I snorted. "But I enjoy their dumb faces when I'm done with my work better and faster than any of the other competitors. Really, Mai, it is worth to stay and wait only to see it." A little smile appeared on my lips as I spoke of my work.

"Yeah, I'm sure, but to keep a restaurant going isn't easy as well. It is very time consuming, so I unfortunately don't have the luxury of staying here with you all the time." she said with a sad look. I could read it easily in her eyes that she wished strongly for having more time for her friends. It was a problem I didn't have to deal with. No matter how long I had to work, there was simply no one I could spend time with.

_'Shizuru… I wish you were here.'_

"Say, Natsuki, don't you have any problems with your customers? If you keep this cold and unfocused look of yours I doubt you will get many clients at all." Mai continued to pick on me and my still preserved reputation as Ice Queen. Some things would never change.

"It's not as bad as you think it is. Somehow they all seem to think that what I'm doing is kind of cool. I don't get it, but as long as this horny pervs' money allows me to make a living, its okay I think." I said. "But recently the amount of work is constantly growing and I think I should hire someone to help me." I added.

It was true, I needed the help badly. Even without something like social obligations or free time I could barely manage my work. Last week I published an advertisement in the local newspaper and since then I already got some applications, but most of them weren't what I expected them to be, so I thought it would be wiser to wait a little longer until I got to the job inverviews.

Mai sat there in silence, blinked a few moments in utter disbelief, when she finally managed to comment my intention of hiring someone. "It must suck to have a boss who hates humanity and is making any effort to stop others of befriending her."

It was my turn now to blink in confusion while my brain tried to comprehend the meaning of Mai's words. "Mai… you aren't talking about me, are you?" I finally said. Damn this traitor!

"O… of course not, Natsuki! I would never-"

"One more word and I scrap Yuuichi's new Honda CBR Fireblade." I coldly stated. "Out of all people you should know the best how much money this baby is worth, Yuuichi Mai. As far as I can tell, he spent a huge load of your cash, too."

"Erm… yeah, I… I know, Natsuki." Since she was cornered again, Mai tried another attempt of changing the topic. "How is Shizuru-san doing?"

_'Shizuru.'_

Here I was again, not able to abandon her out of my head. Our destinies were intertwined in some way and I couldn't forget her no matter how hard I tried. It was hard to accept, but my selfish desires didn't want to die as I wished they would. I missed her with every fiber of my body and what worried me the most was that I couldn't even explain why it was how it was.

Whatever Mai expected as reaction from me, it seems I did neither. Her smile dropped in an instant and her eyes were filled with concern. Mai knew me, so I thought she would have already figured what was wrong.

"Sorry, Natsuki, I didn't mean to-", she tried to soothe me, but it didn't help at all.

"No, it's okay. Well… it isn't really okay, but this is something I have to live with. Our worlds are too different… she is the sole offspring and the lone heir of and to the Fujino Business Empire. It is only natural that she obeys her fathers will and takes over his position after he retires." I said more to myself than to Mai, holding up my reason for keeping my precious person out of my life. I even had to close my eyes, taking a deep breath to steady myself. "I would only stand in her way. Did you know I once met her parents? It was an… interesting encounter, to say the least. Shizuru have enough to worry about, my presence would only worsen her already complicated life."

_'She loves me in a romantic way, while her parents despise me and all what I stand for. They even dislike Shizuru for some reason I was never able to figure exactly out. With me around she would never ever agree to the surely advantageous marriage her parents arranged for her.'_

So I closed my eyes, trying to banish my vain and selfish thoughts from my head. I had enough practise recently in doing so, after all.

* * *

"Otou-san, can I have a word with you? There is a something of utter importance we have to discuss."

My crimson eyes stared daring in dark brown eyes. Come to think of it, I never ever dared to challenge my father like this, always being the obedient little girl. However, this was something I have to leave behind in my past. I live in the here and now; it is my life after all. Willingly going into an arranged marriage? Suffocating in work like my father? Sacrifice my young life to increase a wealth I wouldn't be able to spend even with a tenfold lifespan? And all of it only to die a lonely death at last?

_'I was my fate's slave as long as I never experienced the strength of love. It is funny how I thought of love as a worthless and overrated emotion all the time I never felt it. But with my feelings for you, Natsuki, I was able to breafk the shackles of destiny. No longer shall I stay__ restricted by them.'_

Sajonji Fujino, the head of the Fujino clan, nodded after he thought about my unusual request. It seems he couldn't remember the last time I was able to withstand his gaze. Whatever it was, he would surely try to break my newfound strong will as soon as possible.

"Very well." he said in his usual deep voice, still staring into the eyes Natsuki once called beautiful crimson orbs.

_'Natsuki, soon I will see you again, even if it seems that you reject me for loving you in an inappropriate way.'_

"You shall have fifteen minutes after today's dinner. In your interest I hope it is important and does not cause any problems until then. You may leave."

With this his eyes went back to his paperwork, completely ignoring me. I was too eager to wipe this arrogant look off of his face, so I wordlessly turned around and went straight to the door, leaving my fathers office. It was no secret that my relationship with both of my parents, especially with my father, was a disturbed one. I was said to be drop dead gorgeous, I did everything perfect I begun and had what people described as inner glow. Whenever I entered a room no matter its size, my presence draw nearly all attention on me. I obeyed every single rule my father made, did everything he asked me for, but even then I couldn't help but feel unwanted. Often I could grasp the accusation of guilt in his eyes whenever he thought I didn't look at him.

In many ways people around me do not hold back with compliments, saying how my eyes were mesmerizing and the huge amount of love letters and wannabe-suitors proved that my smile brought both boys and girls to lose their heart to me. And yet I was the great disappointment to my parents, however perfect I tried to be to make them at least a little bit proud of me.

But nothing. What I have to offer, they take it as given without showing any emotion at all.

Why do they think of me as the cause to the inner problems of the Fujino family? Well, there were complications when my mother gave her first and equally last child birth. This child was me. These problems led to an excision of her uterus, what was at last the reason for her involuntary infertility.

Thus the main branch of the Fujino family had only a daughter as heir for the first time since several hundred years. I couldn't do anything about it, but they did never let any opportunity pass to let me feel how much of an unwanted and misfortune bringing child I was.

_'Natsuki, did I ever tell you that you were the first and at the same time the last person to accept the most parts of what constitutes the whole of my personality? Everyone only picks one random trait like my eyes, my fake smile or my sharp intellect and declares his or her love to me, but you saw my inner self and accepted it. You liked me for what I was and not for the façade I build up to appear in a proper way. You even said how thankful you were for giving you the feeling of being loved. So why did you stop answering my letters?'_

I entered my room and went straight to my desk; there I sat down to complete the diary entry I begun this morning when I was thinking about how to speak to father or what I should actually tell him.

_'Let's__ see what we have up until now…'_

_--_

_Dear diary, dear Natsuki!_

_Today I think I gathered enough courage to confront my father with my future plans. I know that it will be hard to say all I have to say, not to mention the struggle that awaits me in the aftermath. However, I will escape the golden cage called my life._

_You probably have absolutely no idea how much of a help you are, my Natsuki. It does not matter how twisted my feelings for you are, since they are all what supports me with the needed strength for the upcoming battle. However, I am ashamed of myself. Here I am, admitting that I only chose this time for my resistance since the lack of moral support you were giving me with each phone call, letter or visit is fading, leaving behind only memories. And even these memories are slowly fading into a grey shade of something distant. If I don't fight now, I never might try again._

_But d__o you still remember when we met in the flower garden of Fuuka Gakuen? Although today it is the eighth anniversary of when we first met, I did never forget this life changing encounter with the cold beauty. Yes, this cold beauty was you, Natsuki. Never before I felt what I felt back then and since then I never stopped to care for you, my eternal love. It is regrettable that we were never more than best friends; however, I thank you for even this much of affection towards me. Even if I did terrible things to prove you my love, the warmth my memories on you are giving me is more I ever hoped to experience in this household. Arigatou._

--

A faint smile formed on my lips as I read the latest entry in the diary again. With a sigh I took the pen Natsuki once gave me as a birthday present and started to finish what I mentally called the '_last thoughts in my cage_'.

_--_

_To be honest, I do not know if it would move our mutual feelings to the better or to the worse if I ever had the courage to confess my__ sill remaining real feelings to you again. I never tried to do so, my love, and I probably never will. You said it was a part of mine, so you will accept my affection for you, but then again you do not need to say how you feel about my twisted feelings. All words are unnecessary when all I need to describe the current state of our relationship is a mere look at the fading away contact._

_But I spoke with Otou-san and our discussion will take place after today's dinner. It is hard to describe what I am feeling right now, but the sole thought of you provides me still with enough inner strength to resist every intimidation, fear and uncertainty that lies ahead. _

_There are things I must prepare for the upcoming meeting, so the next words I will write in this diary will be the words of a Fujino Shizuru without the restraining shackles my family bound me with._

_I still love you, Natsuki, and I always will_

_Yours Shizuru_

--

Carefully I closed my diary and hid it beneath some other documents in one of the drawers of my desk. Then I locked my drawer with one of the keys on the key ring I always carry with me and went to the bathroom to take a shower. I would not go unprepared to confront my father and therefore I had to take care of some certain matters beforehand.

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_Kyoto-ben_ - A dialect somewhat different form common Japanese. It is used in and around the city of Kyoto.

_Kanin-na_ – 'I'm sorry' in Kyoto-ben

_Ookini_ – 'Thank you' in Kyoto-ben


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Though Chapter 3 is in work, school still is taking away much of my beloved free-time. Not only this, but there are damn good stories out there, to which I am addicted. :-D  
I hope I find enough time to resume my work on this story, but keep in mind: the more positive reviews, the more motivation for me to write more.  
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my first fanfic ever at least a little.

**Disclaimer**: Mai HiME and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

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**Chapter 2**

I sighed. It was unnerving to go through all of the applications for the job I offered in my garage. Most of them were either wholly inexperienced, didn't put much effort in working out their application papers or simply made utter mistakes one should never make.

_'Damn it… how dumb you have to be to__ actually sent in a standard application without even bothering to alter the name of your potential employer on the template? This is frustrating…'_

And there was this one special case, too. I never thought of Takeda to actually be good at this kind of work, but here it was… and his application was even alright. If it wasn't a big fake, that is.

_'Anyway, h__ow dumb he thinks I am? There is no way I let him come this near to me, no matter how promising of a candidate he is.'_

The only human being that loved me in this way and was allowed to movef freely around me at the same time was Shizuru. So I sorted the few ones out of which I thought they could meet my expectations. It would be a hard week when I had to manage the job interviews in addition to my usual growing pile of work. I pressed my fingers on my temples and groaned.

_'Headache… perfect…'_

However, this was my dream and I would do everything to maintain it. I might now look anything but happy, but I honestly was.

* * *

The oppressive silence at the dinner was more disturbing as I was used to, but whenever my thought come to Natsuki and the freedom she symbolized in my world, I could overcome every resentful look I got from both father and mother. This is my life and I thought it wouldn't be as bad of an idea to alter some of the things father planned out for me.

Soon enough they left the dining room and took their seats in the adjacent salon, so I followed them in silence, preparing myself for the hard battle ahead. It was a rather large room and filled with valuable and antique furniture, something my father often utilized to his advantage when speaking to business partners or other people he wished to make them feel overwhelmed by the grandiosity, pomp and wealth of the Fujino Business Empire. As member of his family it was only natural for me to be used to all this splendour, so I thought it was the force of habit which caused him to speak with me in this room.

There were three arm chairs in a half-circle in front of the fireplace and after they both sat down, I took my place on the far left.

Sajonji Fujino, the clan's current head, settled into his usual chair on the far right and gave my mother and his wife, Kayumi Fujino, with a weak gesture of his hand permission to also take a seat. He didn't take it well that I sat down without waiting for him allowing me to do so. But honestly, I didn't care in the slightest if he was upset about such a minor detail or not.

Once settled down, there was a tense silence nobody dared to break, even me. I had to admit that father was quite an impressive presence, intimidating for foreigners and even his own family. After a few moments of collecting his thoughts, Fujino Sajonji looked up and met my gaze with his own. He raised his voice to open the discussion.

"Shizuru. What is it that is of such an importance to even disturb my routine?" he asked without even hiding the annoyance he felt right now.

"Otou-san, I will no longer keep a life in the golden cage of yours. Neither will I throw away my lifetime to increase the amount of zeros on our bank statement, nor will I give in to this old-fashioned concept of marriage arrangements you have in plan for me." I calmly said, not even blinking. Here I was, having the wish to be free from restrictions and regulations. I would someday take my part in the corporation, but I would never agree to marry a smug bastard with the personality my father used to describe as 'full of determination' – his own personality.

I looked to my mother, which closed her eyes as if she tried to calm herself down. Surely she was upset by now, being ashamed of me and the rebellious demands I made. It was alright after all, since mother was always a weak person, never daring to differ in her opinion from the one my father had. So I looked to my real opponent in this discussion, my father. Unlike my mother, Fujino Sajonji simply sat in his arm chair and didn't show any emotion or movement. It was like he was a frozen statue, its only intention to bore his gaze into me, to make me sway, to weaken my resolve. It was what he did every time I tried to oppose him, after all.

_'Natsuki, you might be out of my reach, but I still carry on our friendship and my love for you in my heart. No matter how he reacts, no matter how much rules he will bring down upon me, he will never take away my love for you.'_

Since he didn't say anything, I took a deep breath before continuing. "The way all of you treat me makes me hate everything I associate with the name Fujino. I do not know why I am burdened with your far too high expectations and restraining rules, but I feel like I have to make a choice before it is too late. This choice I made today, Otou-san. I will no longer obey your whims and wishes without question."

I took another short break to steady myself for the last thing I intended to say before the storm would break out. "I wished for this meeting to let you know how I saw my situation and to negotiate the new terms of our future acting. As your daughter and heir to the Fujino clan I wish for a compromise we all, especially I, can life with." Now I had to await fathers answer and no matter how hard I tried, there was this subtle anxiety his whole presence spread across the room. But I only needed to remind myself of Natsuki and all was fine.

After several minutes my father, Fujino Sajonji, broke the silence with his deep and yet intimidating voice.

"It seems you finished your little entertaining speech, Shizuru. I have no idea if it is the late occurrence of puberty or simply the unhealthy influence of the scum you are still in contact with from your time at Fuuka, but if that was all you had to say, then you can go back to your room and not further waste my time with this nonsense."

Without waiting for my answer, he arose from his arm chair and went to leave the salon. My slightly shocked mother tried to follow him in silence, but the attempt of this weak woman to act like the strong and equal partner on the side of her husband made me pity her. At least she seems to lessen her tension due to the lack of interest my father had in the things I said. As I recall correctly, she only once tried to fight him…

"First of all I forbid you to call Natsuki 'scum' ever again, Otou-san. And seco-", but he didn't let me finish my response. Even so, how dared he to insult my Natsuki in such a manner? This is something I would never forgive him and someday I would make sure to let him pay for this.

"Shizuru, which of my words were unclear to you?"

My heart skipped a beat on the sudden halt father made as his deep voice carried more hostility and tension as I thought he would have after only this short period.

"And second, we did not solve the problem I have with your plans for my future, yet." I said undeterred, still trying to keep my slight nervousness out of my voice. I couldn't afford to make mistakes here or even to give him the opportunity to exploit any opening.

_'There is no way I let you do as always. You ignore all of my attempts to talk about me and my future, you simply don't care about if I'm happy or not. I will go through with it this time and no __one will stop me from doing so.'_

Fujino Sajonji, still with his back towards me, continued.

"If I understand you correctly, then the cause of your sudden improper behaviour is to be found within your relationship with this scum, isn't it?"

He had clearly Natsuki on his mind, since out of all of my 'friends' she was the only one without what he called 'proper social background'.

"It is my future and I decided for myself what is best for me. Therefore, I see no reason to keep speaking of her right now." _'I fear that further insults against Natsuki could lead in losing my sanity for long enough to make something I would only regret afterwards.'_

Father turned around and faced what he surely saw as his rebellious daughter, his hands clenched to fists. Since it was already dark outside, the only light source in the room was the fire in the fireplace. With his dark business suit, his aura of tension and his imperious presence he was a formidable opponent in every discussion. Even if I was not allowed to admit it openly, on the inside I felt a sudden rising fear. Only the thought of Natsuki, her sweet smile, the love I felt for her and the freedom she represented in my ideology kept me calm and emotionless on the outside.

"You waste my time, Shizuru. Do not ever dare me or I will show you the total amount of options and alternatives you have in this matter in a practical manner. But for now, let me say it loud and clear: I swear there are none and by all means necessary, there will also be none in your predestined future you seem to reject nowadays. But never mind, I hope you understand that it is not your opinion which matters here, even if it is 'your future' as you said."

So this was how he saw me and my life all the time. How did he expect me to accept such a violation of my self-determination?

Therefore, "No." was all he got as an answer from me.

"So you insist on resisting me, Shizuru? Do you have any idea of the consequences you will have to bear if you push your foolish thoughts any further?"

"I know the consequences of going conform to your oppression, so I think it is worth to keep fighting it."

"Very well. I will make sure your current suitor will propose to you yet within this week. You will take over your position at the Fujino Corp. in two weeks, so you can already grasp a piece of what awaits you once I retire. And for the time being all of your bank accounts shall be blocked to prevent you from taking foolish actions. Do not worry, silly little daughter of mine, you get all the money back on the day of your marriage." With a smug look on his face he added one more thing. "It should not take any longer than several weeks I think. I hope this remodelling of your future is a satisfying outcome of your attempt to alter its run of events."

With this he turned back and aimed directly for the exit, no longer interested it this waste of his seemingly valuable time. There was no way I would let him get away with this.

"And this is where we seem to have a difference in our understanding, Otou-san."

'_I have still __some trump cards, daddy, which will provoke some reaction for sure. I am not defeated yet and I swear by my love for Natsuki that I will not lose here either.'_

But it was my smile and the amusement in my voice which made him stop in his tracks. He couldn't bear that his words and harsh reaction didn't affect me at all.

"So? What makes you believe I care for what you want? You disappoint me, Shizuru, since I thought you were more mature than you seem to be. Someday you will learn why my decisions were the best ones for the glory of our clan... and your future" he added in a futile try to sound more like a father than a dictator, even though everyone in this household knew he was undoubtedly the latter.

"You see, Otou-san, it is not like I did not know how you would react, so I already took care of some things before dinner."

"Did I underestimate you, Shizuru? Do not play games with me. If you did anything to damage our clan, our corporation or our reputation, I will make you pay for it for sure, remember that." he began to threat me. But still, this was also something I expected him to do.

If I wasn't already there, now I definitely was on a verbal mine field with him. Even then, there was one more thing I could throw into our little talk.

"To put it in simple words, I dumped my suitor with a simple text message. And by the way, Otou-san, I am into girls." I closed my eyes, smiled one of my sincere smiles and tilted the head slightly to the right, while both my hands lay relaxed in my lap. It was refreshing how much of a burden fell from me after telling them one of my, if not even the greatest secret in my life.

'_How is that, daddy? The perfect opportunity to speak it out, though I know of your homophobia, the accusations in your eyes whenever you look at me and your concern about the flawless reputation of our family.'_

After some moments passed, I opened my eyes to take a look on my still silent parents. To see my father speechless was an experience for itself.

Fujino Kayumi, the women I should think of as my mother, gazed the opposite direction and it was not hard to feel the embarrassment and tension she emitted. Fujino Sajonji, the man I was supposed to call father, however, stood before me as he stared with all of his magnitude and power down on my calm form. In his eyes I could easily read the disgust he felt. Though his body trembled due to his anger, his voice remained calm and dark as ever.

"It wasn't a joke, was it? Of course not, you wouldn't dare… not in the situation you currently are in."

He snorted with despise. "So my own and only flesh and blood is a second class human then, hm?"

"Ara, I wonder if I inherited this genetic trait from mother or from you." I simply asked, still smiling. _'This one is for insulting Natsuki.'_

It was somehow relieving to speak finally on a more even level with my father than I used to up until today.

He instantly raised his hand as his eyes widened. However, I didn't even blink; instead the smile on my face grew even wider. To make him lose his patience, to cause more emotions in him that he was able to suppress with his iron will… it was nearly intoxicating. With a deep growl in his throat he clenched his trembling hand to a fist and lowered it. He wouldn't slap me and the fact that he showed this much emotion should have weakened his resolution.

'_Ara, __I have even more trump cards and I am already done with overcoming his disinterest in me? I am better than I thought.'_

"Kanin-na, Otou-san, but you do not have access to all of my bank accounts and since I am already of age you will not be able to block them either. Furthermore, I could simply sabotage every work you give me within the corporation, so this won't work out as easy as you thought it would."

"I don't care about this anymore as long as you don't bring disgrace over the name Fujino and give birth to a male heir, my worthless daughter." he growled.

"I humbly reject the idea of an arranged marriage. Whoever it is, as long as I don't like him, I will dump every single suitor you will send me. And above all, you cannot force me to sleep with a filthy man and you know that, even if it were not for the fact that I mastered several weapons and martial art styles."

'_How long did you thought you could control my life or order me around as if I was a slave of yours?__ Ookini, Natsuki, for being my guiding light of hope in the deep darkness of my life.'_

With this Fujino Sajonji growled even more while he gritted his teeth. His mouth opened, but he closed it without saying a single tone. He repeated himself twice, not able to properly respond.

"I am not going to lose my face to the likes of you, Shizuru, you know that too. But I know when I have lost, so I will admit defeat for now and offer you the following option for your future: You do as you like with your work in my corporation and I won't interfere with your financial affairs. However, you are not allowed to maintain further relationships with any of your female friends and you will give birth to an heir within the next three years. I am not interested in what kind of relationship you have or not have with your husband, if you love or hate each other, as long as the future of our family clan's main branch is secured."

"As if it was something you cared about before. The whole love-thing I mean." I sighed as I felt the strong urge to lean back tired in the arm chair.

"Do you agree with these terms?" Sajonji impatiently asked.

"Kanin-na, Otou-san, but neither can I accept to sleep with any man, no matter the cause or goal, nor will I allow you to decide with whom I am friends. To be free in these both things is what motivated me to speak with you about it in the first place."

"I see." he calmly said, his fingers massaging his temples.

He opened his eyes and stared coolly at me, still dizzy to the sudden and certainly unexpected defeat his own daughter inflicted to him. His pride was severely damaged, he looked like his head ached and it was apparent that he was barely able to control his still rising anger.

Without a word he sat down on his arm chair again, mother doing the same. "I gave you everything other girls ever wanted and this is how you thank me, you ungrateful… dyke?" he asked annoyed, not expecting to be forced in a defensive position in this conversation.

Now we got to the core of our problem. This was the beginning of a very tense, but yet interesting discussion. But here I wondered how much it would take to make him yell at me.

'_I fear this is something I __am going to find out soon…'_

* * *

_'In all the time since I, Agawa Miyuki, was a maid in the Fujino household, I never saw this evil landlord happy or aroused, the only emotion he dared to share with others was his annoyance with them. Actually it was an easy job, though. He wasn't at home very often and his poor wife's free will was broken since before I was hired._

_The only light in this family was actually their daughter, Shizuru-sama. Words cannot describe her beauty or how mesmerizing it was to be only around her. Unlike her parents, the young master was so full of life, yet her eyes told me every time I risked looking at them that she was a caged bird, condemned to a future without future, so to speak._

_But today she was more lively and aggressive as usual, her eyes strong and determined. To see her like this… I could really fall for her, even though I am a girl. But it was quite disturbing to know that she was with her parents in the salon for almost two hours now, something I wouldn't survive under the dark gaze of the man we all use to call the evil landlord – behind his back and only if he is not present at this mansion of course!_

_I honestly pity Shizuru-sama for having parents like this.'_

"Oi, Miyuki! Ya hear me? This time it's your turn to bring him his tea." my colleague said with a stern look on her face. Damn her, there was absolutely no way I would bark in into the salon.

"Forget it, Nanako-chan, 'he' will burn me to ash the instant I set my foot in this room." I cried out, hoping to do the right thing. It was a hard decision to make, after all. He ordered his tea for 8 p.m. and everyone knew how 'annoyed' he could get for every kind of delay. On the other hand, nobody – included the evil landlord himself – expected this special meeting to take this much time. This was a sure sign that it was of utter importance and every disturbance was to be punished for sure. Since it was already 8.30 p.m. the delay couldn't be avoided, so we – the three other maids, the butler, the secretary and me – were debating about what could have caused this strange event. Well, the butler wasn't debating with us, since he did what a good butler always did in situations like this: standing by the door and eavesdropping. The salon was a big room and normally you couldn't get even a single understandable word that was said in there, but its design responded great to rather intense acoustics such as their loud voiced right now.

"Poor thing, who knows what he will do with her now that she clearly stated where she sexually stands." the secretary said, sighing at the mere thought of the consequences for the mood of his boss from Shizuru's outing.

"Yeah, but he didn't storm out enraged like we thought he would. Shizuru-sama is smart, that's clear at the latest by now." Nanako-chan said while keeping her stern look. It didn't fit her I decided.

"Come on, he will be as insufferable as ever, no matter what Shizuru-sama might say to him. And what is the worst he can do to her? She is of age, so there aren't many options to punish her." Tomoe-san snorted, making clear on which side she stood. Not that anyone was on the side of the evil landlord, though.

"You already forgot how he broke Kayumi-sama? After Shizuru-sama's birth and her long stay at the hospital he made clear the degree of disappointment he felt with her. She fought, but he broke her. There is nothing left from the cheerful women I once used to know." Nanako-chan said, indicating a similar future for the popular daughter of the unpopular master.

"Shht!", the butler hissed, trying to make us silent in order to understand more of the conversation in the salon.

All of us went silent, looking expectantly at the eavesdropping butler. Were we to loud? Or did he hear something real interesting? We could do nothing but wait for him to tell us.

Tomoe-san was pacing around and her nervousness was apparent. Uyeda, the secretary, sat down on a nearby chair, not in the slightest bothering with the fact that this antique chair was more worth than the payment he received each month. Nanako-chan went to the kitchen bringing another fresh tea for the third time now, since nobody was willing to take the risk of serving the master his tea. The other to maids went back to their work, so only the four of us were left waiting in front of the double-door leading in the salon.

The silence was really oppressing and heavy and the knowledge of an angry evil landlord was threatening the usual peace in this house.

But this was a good opportunity to think about the reason for Shizuru-sama's little revolt. Tomoe-san once mentioned a sudden change in Shizuru-sama's behaviour after her return from Fuuka Gakuen. And here I remember Yatuka, the butler, saying some time ago that Sajonji Fujino-sama was outraged about the young master's close social interaction with a commoner, something he never approved her to do. Ever since then she was more lively and cheerful, her presence was glowing like a sudden sunrise amidst the night. And now that Yatuka heard him yelling practically out Shizuru-sama was a 'dyke'… the conclusion was not as hard to make as I thought.

"Ne, Tomoe-san, could it be that Shizuru-sama has already a girlfriend and tries to avert the marriage Sajonji Fujino-sama is planning for her?" I asked, hoping for approval from Tomoe-san. It wasn't quite often that I came up with a flash of genius.

I didn't even manage to finish my sentence when Tomoe-san glared at me as if I suggested slaughtering some innocent children and eating their hearts and brains - raw. So I was thankful that Nanako-san either didn't see or care about Tomoe-san.

"That would certainly be very dramatic. Forbidden love, a hating father and a beautiful protagonist. Maybe it is enough to write a book at some point of time?" she proposed, slightly smiling. It wasn't enough to make the tension disappear, but – except for Tomoe-san – it loosened our mind, even if it was only for a few moments.

"Silence!" the butler once again hissed, still pressing his ear closely at the door. It will stay beyond my comprehension how a human could be gifted with good ears such as those Yatuka-san had. Anyway, it seems they stopped yelling again; otherwise he wouldn't have to tell us to be silent, I roughly guessed.

"I wonder what takes them so long to discuss." I mused, speaking with my voice lowered. When she didn't answer, I bowed my brow at the surprisingly pale Tomoe-san. One more thing to wonder about, not that it was very important at the present matter at hand, though.

There was nothing we could do but wait for them to finish. Going by Yatuka-san's face, the outgoing seemed to develop to be an unpleasant one.

'_Poor Shizuru, what did she do to deserve a father like this?'_

* * *

_Otou-sama_ - 'Father' with the honorific of high respect

_Otou-san_ - 'Father' with the normal 'san'-honorific

_Oka-san_ - 'Mother' with the normal 'san'-honorific


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Sorry if the update is a little bit late, but I had to rewrite this chapter since I didn't come to like the first version I already had down on my paper. But I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. :-)  
Again I am really sorry for any errors. I would appreciate it if you could point them out if you find them, so that I can improve the overall-quality of my story.  
And one last thing: Thanks for the positive feedback, I am happy about every single review. Even if only one of you is enyoing my story, then my time and efforts aren't wasted at all. ;-)

**Disclaimer**: Mai HiME and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Hey babe, look, you need a competent mechanic and here I am. What's the big deal in hiring me? There is absolutely nothing that could go wrong with-"

"I just said 'thank you and good bye', so why do you insist on being a bother to me?" I growled with annoyance.

'_Damn it, this is the fourth and last interview and here I hoped to find at least someone who is not a complete jerk.__ All, but please, not Takeda! I would hate it to be forced to employ him only out of my misery.'_

"Hey babe, look, there's no need to be so rude. Why-"

"Finish this sentence and we will see if it was a joke when I said you might be able to leave this office only with the help of some paramedics." I only coldly stated. There was no time to waste on such fools at all, since there was nobody to do the work while these idiots held me occupied. Why is it always me who has to deal with the biggest morons out there?

"Hey babe, look, I will go for now. When do you… erm, you know, babe, call me to say that… I have this job?" he winced in a pathetic manner while he held his arms up as to show that he was in the defence without any intention on pushing his luck further.

"Who knows? And now disappear as long as you are able to walk on your own, Komura Takoshi."

'_There is no point in further wasting my time. At least I have some mayo waiting for me.'_

"H… hai! Look, excuse me then, babe!" was the last thing he said before he ran off.

Again I had to sigh heavily. _'What a jerk…'_ I thought, not able to suppress it. This was a horrible day and I might not go home before 10 p.m. again. To put my dream into practise had basically to suck sometimes, however worthwhile it was in the overall-picture.

I looked at my clock only to realize that it was already 3 p.m. due to the tiring job interviews I had to manage. _'Just fine, without mayonnaise I am sure I would keel over dead on days like this.'_

But then, out of a sudden I heard a familiar and lovely sound.

'_A… motorcycle I think. Damn, this one sounds… ridiculous strong. This much power… i__t's just hot.'_

I stood still and frozen in my place as I looked on the street, waiting for the nearing machine to come into vision. Going by the sound this baby made, it was something you didn't come to see every day; maybe it was even something so unique that you would never ever forget this sight.

'_Damn, I can't say where I heard this sound before, but I definitely remember hearing it… __if I only could tell where it was…'_

What I then saw made definitely my day. It was a Ducati Desmosedici, raven black, stainless and absolutely gorgeous. It was strong, it was fast, it was loud and above all it was really expensive! At first I couldn't even avert my eyes to look somewhere else, such marvellous it was. No wonder it took me a great deal of effort to just look slightly higher at the biker, who was _'A girl? No, this body… a damn matured woman.' _It was really hard to say why I had to point mentally out the fact that the biker was well matured. However, this wasn't of any concern anymore when the biker then decided to take off her helmet only to reveal the flawless and pure porcelain white face of Fujino Shizuru.

My heart was beating fast and hard. This was… _'Hot? No, to say hot is the greatest understatement I ever made. It was… damn, are there even words to describe… THAT?!' _It was like a dream. It had to be a dream. I mean, it's not like I hadn't had dreams with Shizuru in it before, but this… it was hotter than anything my own mind could've come up with up until today – and my body denied me the requested awakening. She was nothing less than an immense glowing presence in the middle of a plain and vulgar world, at least in my eyes.

'_Shit… if this isn't a dream… no, it IS a dream. Come on, Shizuru on a bike? __And after all those years right here before me? Impossible! Try to fool somebody else, whoever you are! How dumb do you think I acuta-'_

"Ara, to be greeted with a blush… kawaii!"

'_This… isn't a dream, is it?'_I unintentionally gulped and took one step backwards.

"Good morning, Natsuki." she greeted, waving her left hand at me. The way the sunlight broke on the surface of her crimson-colored eyes, the way a weak gust played with the strands of her tawny hair, her angelic smile… it was all my knees needed to turn into jelly – and on top of all this, so far it was damn real!

"Erm… y… yeah." It was really frightening that I wasn't able to even greet her! And here I thought I was strong. Damn my so-called friends who always claimed I was.

I didn't even dare to blink and time seemed to stop when the red-eyed angel get off the bike and took step after step in my direction, slowly and steady proceeding. I didn't even notice that my knees became even more weak and floppy, resulting in sliding down wordlessly to the ground, though I don't exactly recall taking notice of it. It was hard for me to restrain myself from breaking out into tears of joy. I bit on my lower lip, slightly trembling at the sight of the dream of my dreams, the beautiful Ducati Desmosedici RR, the road replica of one of the greatest bikes in the MotoGP World Championship ever. It was expensive as hell, but the sheer amount of power within this baby was hardly to tame.

'_And riding it was none other than…'_ "…Shizuru." I weakly finished.

'_Come Natsuki; t__ry to think about it rationally. That HAS to be a dream! HER! On THIS bike! Only a few… few… experienced… shit, it is not a dream and neither an illusion. Heaven maybe? But I don't even remember dying, damnit!'_

By the time Shizuru reached me and knelt down before me. I couldn't help but directly stare at her…

'_What the heck?! I will never ever admit that I am actually… staring at her… b… brea… breas… no, I definitely won't admit it!'_

But my eyes – those damn traitors – didn't respond to my commands. I was forced to look at…

'_This biking suit is nearly identical with my own, the only difference is made by the faint traces of purple and… damn, that'__s a hell of a chest- stop! Damn! And why is it… suddenly so… so damn hot out here?'_

"Ara, Natsuki is blushing so hard only from the pure joy of seeing me? Why, I'm flattered." she said while smiling one of her real and sincere smiles. However long our parting might have lasted, her smile is something I never dared to forget. It was too precious, after all.

"Shi… zuru…" was all I could whimper, though.

'_And here I thought… __it… wasn't noon already… so why… is it… so fucking hot out here?!'_

"Does Natsuki like my new bike? Or my biking suit?" Shizuru asked, pushing the teasing she missed for so long now further.

"…zuru… Du… Ducati…" I stammered, still unable to speak. Damn you, Shizuru! You are more than I can handle damnit!

"Ara, you are no fun if you cannot even respond properly to my teasing. What do you think, should I kiss my sleeping beauty awake?" she asked innocently as she brought her face only an inch away from mine. The moment one of her hands tenderly cupped my left cheek, I collapsed and lost my consciousness.

* * *

Three years passed since I saw her during her visit in Kyoto. She was as beautiful as ever, cute as ever and though she matured since our last meeting, my Natsuki still seemed to remain my good old Natsuki in nearly all respects, even her weakness for falling for my teasing didn't change.

But it was a long time. There was one question now I asked myself on my way to Fuuka the whole time: Why did she stop writing me, calling me and visiting me? Did she find a boy- or girlfriend? Or did she simply grow tired of me? Otou-san caused a situation I cannot and will not bear if Natsuki is to banish me from her life, too.

It was frightening to watch her unconscious form with the certainty that this innocent girl's simple answer could make me throw away my life yet today. Why remaining in a world nobody even remotely cared for you? I wouldn't tell her that all I had left was her, of course. Being accepted by Natsuki out of pure pity would even be worse than death.

I sighed and tried to suppress those gloomy thoughts. My Natsuki didn't answer me yet, so until then I should refuse to think about the 'what-if's' of her rejection.

She was lying in her bed, still asleep. It seemed she hadn't had much sleep recently. She grumbled something and cuddled further into her pillow, when her mind finally was able to catch up with the thought that she had no memory of going to bed in the first place. And what she wore didn't feel like her pajama, she was still in her working clothes. At least this is what I interpreted in her behaviour. It would be so Natsuki-like, after all. As far as I could see, she was pretty much the same when we last met in Kyoto three years ago. Anyway, her presence already started to affect me: I was jealous of her pillow!

The emerald-green eyes shot open as suddenly as they closed when she passed out a while ago. Before she could even register what had happened or why she was where she was, she jolted up when I finally decided to speak to her.

"Ara, Natsuki is awake. Did you sleep well?"

"Shizuru?" Natsuki was obviously in a state of utter confusion. Seeing me still in my biking suit was probably the reason that made her suddenly remember what happened… or at least the fragments of memories she remembered. Not hard to say that she blushed with the same suddenness her memory decided to remind her of what caused her to pass out. But this too was something I only guessed, although it wasn't hard to make a guess since it was indeed somewhat warm in here, what had caused me to unzip a part of my riding suit, hence revealing a fair amount of cleavage.

"Hai, Natsuki, the one and only."

It was great to smile at her while feeling alive again, without even a hint of the mask I usually wore. Even if we didn't see each other for about three years now, my feelings for her were genuine and strong.

"I see. So… uhm… mind to tell me why you are here?" a confused Natsuki dared to ask, trying hard to fight her blush down. It was… so cute!

"Well, how to put it… You could say that I have an agreement with my father regarding my future. That's how it is." It wasn't really what Otou-san said, suggested or asked of me, but nonetheless it wasn't a lie, so I giggled and Natsuki couldn't help but relax a little.

'_She is as beautiful as ever. If only I could touch you… embrace you… kiss you…'_

I didn't expect her to blush suddenly, but all the same it was cute and amusing. A penny for her thoughts.

"Ara, what did I say to make you blush in this shade of red, Natsuki?" I couldn't help but laughing somewhat. I missed this feeling for real.

"Erm… I… eh… Shizuru!" Natsuki tried to make her way out of her embarrassment, but unfortunately for her, she was never good at it.

"Hai, hai." I said, still giggling light hearted.

"So… uhm… mind to explain this 'agreement'-thing?" the emerald-eyed girl asked, trying to direct our conversation on the main topic.

There was a short period of silence, when I finally decided to speak. The truth would scare her for sure, but I couldn't lie to her either. So I went for telling her only some essential parts and leaving out the details.

"I trust that you don't tell it anybody, even if it's Mai or someone else who is at a close… basis with you, hm?" I finally began, however still smiling. In spite of myself I had to ask indirect if she was involved with somebody on a more intimate level.

But Natsuki only pouted in her own cute way.

"Mou! You know I have no friends but you and Mai. But it's all right, I promise to keep it for myself."

'_I'm so glad, Natsuki. So there is still hope for me, after all.'_

Relieved, I could now begin with my half-true story.

"Well, I fought against my fate which resulted in a Pyrrhic victory. I won my freedom, but I was abandoned by Fujino Sajonji first in his function as father and second in his function as head of the Fujino family. He disinherited me, sent me away and took away all he was able to in the short period of time he had. But I am free, Natsuki, no longer held by what I used to call the shackles of Fujino destiny."

"I'm sorry." she only said while looking at me with this saddened green eyes of her.

"Ara, Natsuki just apologized? May I ask what for?"

"Well… don't you feel somewhat down after your family abandoned you? My father did the very same thing, though his reasons were different." the raven-haired girl answered, reminding me of the few things about her own family she once shared with me.

"He didn't only reject me, Natsuki, but he insulted you, tried to blame you for my struggle for freedom. Then this person didn't miss the opportunity to make clear how much of a waste of breath I was, how strong his concern for the stainlessness of his family name was when I told him that I… well, you already know… that I prefer women over men." With this I only looked away in slight embarrassment, though my cheeks were giving away the faintest of blushes. I wasn't used to speak about my deepest feelings, even if it was Natsuki I spoke with. "Of course I take no pleasure in being hurt, but what aches the most is not the huge mass of insults, but the simple fact of knowing that your own parents are willing to toss away their only child like it was a filthy and unlovable freak, a mere whim of nature not worth of getting the love it yearns for."

"I see. I'm really sorry for you, Shizuru. So do you have a place to stay at yet?" Natsuki asked full with concern for me. It was easy to forget that there was actually somebody in this world who cared for you, after you spend so much time at home with the kind of parents I had.

"The reason I am here is not the intention of living on your costs, if it was what you might have suspected. It was your free way of living that inspired me to break free from the burden my father wanted me to bear. So I have done what I ever wanted to do… Just like you I simply enjoyed the feeling of riding a bike, free of all restraints, rules and burdens."

But in my story I left out two major details. Both of them could cause Natsuki to reject me once more, to leave me behind. Although I was careful not to show it, I was scared of the possibility of being abandoned by the girl I loved more than life.

And for the two details… the first one was what Otou-san really said back then.

* * *

_(Fujino Mansion – Salon – yesterday at 9 p.m.)_

"_This is beyond annoying! How long do you think you can 'reason' with me, eh!?" Sajonji Fujino growled, his eyes half closed in a menacing manner. He paced around the arm chair I sat in and was about to lose his patience. Not that he was patient with me in the first place, but now he was close to… well, something one could only describe as 'exploding'. But after… that's a good question, though. How long do we sit here already? In this point Otou-san was right, it was beyond annoying. At least Oka-san was useful in her own useless way, however I felt it a wrong way to think this lowly of one's own mother._

"_Then why do you insist on confining me to such a fate?" I wearily asked._

"_An own family is by all means no prison! But I don't expect pitiful beings such as you to realize such simple facts, no matter how much one tries. In the end, it is a waste of breath!" he stopped in front of me, towering above my tired form and flailing his fist like a little child. At least this was what I saw in him._

"_Wasted breath indeed." I felt the sudden urge to sigh deeply. All he could talk about now was about my sex-life. Not that I had one… not without Natsuki. And even with Natsuki there wasn't such thing as mutual love. It was painful to admit that the strongest feeling I ever had would be a one-sided love._

_Otou-san only snorted, looked down at me with his smug expression, before he started his final attack._

"_Very well then, my despiteful and shame-bringing girl, I shall give in and grant your wish. You can go and choose whatever partner you want, I simply don't care anymore. However, until you learn to obey my rule or return with a fiancé to this mansion to introduce him properly, I shall no longer have a daughter. Until said day you are no longer a member of this family by right, only by name, though I highly doubt your return due to these… unnatural tendencies of yours. I will make your life as much of a hell as I am able to whenever you dare to stain the name Fujino. I hope you appreciate this last warning from your father."_

"_So you… practically outcast me, Otou-san?" I asked with clear disbelief in my voice. He yelled at me, he insulted me and Natsuki throughout the past several hours, he even stooped low enough to threaten me and Natsuki… and now he rejects me as his daughter? Not what I awaited him to do when I first spoke to him this evening, but freedom was still fine enough._

"_Hai, Shizuru, this is exactly what I did just a moment ago. If you are as intelligent as I think, you should not have any financial problems since you had enough time to fill up some of your private bank accounts with the money you had access to up until now, but do not expect any further share on the business profits or any other form of support from our family clan."_

"_Is this your last word on this?"_

"_Hai, it is. Be gone till midnight or I will have the security to force you out of the Fujino mansion. Just remember that you are free to come back whenever you are willing to obey my rule or bring and introduce a proper and worthy fiancé with whom you will provide the clan with an heir, until then do not even dare to set one foot on any of our properties. Have a good time with your newly acquired freedom, Shizuru." These were his last words before he took his leave, his wife following him in silence. Both of them didn't even look at me right then. Even if I hated them, it was painful to be thrown out by ones own parents. The ache was similar to what I felt when Natsuki rejected my twisted love during this fateful night during the carnival. When the sounds of his steps faded away, I stood up and went to my room, preparing my departure and thinking about a new home._

* * *

_(Natsuki's apartment – bedroom – present at 10 a.m.)_

'_However, what I came up with was an insane idea__. It was insane even for my means. This was the second detail I didn't tell Natsuki about.'_

But I told her something other I longed desperately to learn of.

"I wanted to see you, since it was you who inspired me in the first place, but more important… I wanted to ask you in person why… why you didn't answer my letters for three years now."

At first her eyes widened, but then she relaxed again, averted her gaze and muttered a "Sorry" in an unusual weak voice. "One day, I will explain it to you, I promise."

Since we now first met for a long time, I didn't pursue the answer to my question further. Given that she wanted me to stay longer than today, I should learn my answer from her soon enough.

"But… your father was right then, eh?" she finally said, her still sad eyes looking at me again.

"What do you mean?" I only managed to ask, not knowing what she meant by that.

"Well… it comes down to me that you got rebellious, right?" Natsuki said while slightly giggling.

"Mhh, if you look down on it in this way, then to a certain extend you are right."

"But Shizuru… since when are you able to ride a bike?" she asked, her curiosity seemingly getting the upper hand.

Since there was no harm in telling her the truth, the answer was simple. "This is an easy one. I missed the feeling I always had whenever you took me with you for a ride, so I decided to learn riding a bike for myself."

"I see… but how did you get your hands on this absolutely gorgeous Ducati Desmosedici RR? I know they are strongly limited and really expensive. A normal worker would have to spend his gross income of at least three years."

"Neither am I a normal worker, nor do a Fujino knows the meaning of the word 'limited'" I said, now smiling even more. It was easy to forget all those burdening things when I was around her. But there was one thing I could tease her with, though. "But what do you mean with 'RR'? The 'Road Replica' series maybe?" I asked her, now highly amused. Natsuki only nodded. "Ara, this isn't the RR-series."

"Damn you…" she said with the cutest pout in years.

"Hai, my dear. This bike originally doesn't have any approval of being used on the road, since it was created for the sole purpose of winning the world championship on racing tracks across the whole wide world. I got it on a non-legal way of course. In case of a vehicle inspection I made sure the forged documents are authentic enough, but my bike is technically a Ducati Desmosedici GP7, the only somewhat recolored original racing bike model the then current world champion in person used."

Silence.

"Natsuki?" I dared to ask, since I didn't get any response.

"I hate you…" Natsuki only said, visibly envious.

Well, I wasn't a monster and teasing was only teasing as long as it didn't develop into torturing her. I knew how sensible she was whenever something was concerning her beloved bikes, so I decided to finally release her from her state of moping around.

"Happy Birthday, Natsuki."

* * *

kawaii - it just means "cute" in japanese

Hai - "yes" in japanese

Short-info on Ducati Desmosedici GP7: Natsuki heard the sound on TV while watching the MotoGP and the 7 stands for the year the bike was used on: 2007. In this year Ducati won with an excellent show. :-)  
The RR-series is only a somewhat weaker spin-off, which is - unlike a pure racing-bike - allowed on public streets.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: Finally I was able to produce an update! Work is practically eating me up, that's really frustrating. And for the free-time I have… there are a lot of great stories out there, always lurking in the shadows and distracting me even in the time when I am supposed to work. Anyway, sorry for errors and enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: Mai HiME/ Mai Otome and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

I was lying on my couch and thinking about the past day. However I tried, I couldn't drift to sleep, thus remaining in a state between awake and slumber. It was tiring, but on the other hand it was still too tiring to change something about my current situation. But I suspected that the reason for my state was sleeping deeply just in the next room. Yes, I let her stay for the night since she had no way to leave Fuuka on her own. Hell, I own THE bike! Thanks, Shizuru, for this you have my permission to use my bed for the rest of your life. My 21st Birthday was indeed one of the craziest days I ever witnessed, mostly thanks to you.

"Natsuki, we can go for a ride later, but please… I beg of you, stop hugging your new bike. I know it is great, but it is yours now, you can see it every day if you want to… unlike me." she said, her voice no more than a whisper while adding the last two words. I couldn't have told if she wanted me to hear it or not, but anyway, I got it so I couldn't pretend I didn't hear. I let go of my bike, went over to Shizuru and gave her a big and literally breathtaking hug, not that she complained. Even after I tried to abandon her, she returned to me. She always gave me everything and more, whilst I did nothing to keep even her friendship.

Yes, after I tried to abandon her. It was hard to admit, but after all this time thinking about it, there was no other explanation for my behaviour in the past several years. But even then, when I think about it further, I thought of her every time my mind wasn't busy or whenever something reminded me of her, what happened a lot over the past several years. But then again, my cowardice got the better of me one day, made me let go of her out of the fear of indulging romantic feelings. Yes, that's right, somehow I always loved her, but I realized it when she left Fuuka right after the carnival. There is an old saying that you only realize the true worth of something after you lost it.

But as I said, I was a coward, keeping her out of my mind, pretending that I cared for her and her future, hence breaking every contact to Shizuru… to my Shizuru… to my Shizuru, who always loved me.

I didn't deserve her love or even her friendship, yet she came back to me, giving up her life in endless luxury and wealth even without being sure if I would welcome her or not. Though I must admit that Shizuru only did it because she rejects the arranged marriage her father scheduled for her, but nevertheless it was me who was her first and eternal love – at least it is what she once said to me. Therefore, the reason for rejecting her marriage lies within me.

Once I asked Shizuru out of a whim if her sexual orientation was lesbian or bisexual and her answer was still present in my mind until now: "Ara, what a direct way to ask. But you deserve nothing less than an honest and direct answer. The truth is I don't know if I even love women in general. I can only speculate if my love for you was there because I prefer girls or if I say that I like girls because of my love for you. Since I never had feelings for anyone but you… well, it is also possible that I have neither orientation, leaving me asexual with you as my only exception."

Somewhere I still think she was right. This was the question that was also plaguing me since she shared her thoughts on that matter with me. Did I love her because I like girls or do I like girls because I loved her? Would I like her if she was a boy or do I like her because she is not? Is the feeling I experience with her even love or is it only a deep friendship with a strong longing for affection and care? Or could it even be that we only like each other because we have neither loving families nor really good and caring friends? Since the carnival I had Mai, that's right, but the bond I shared with Shizuru was stronger, older and more developed. Did I see her as the family I never had? What did I expect from her?

There were no answers for me for these questions, so I observed Mai and Tate, imagining myself with Shizuru in a similar situation. The lone thought of me and her in a relationship… I was afraid of leaving myself too open, too much vulnerable if I let my feelings for her take control over me. Thus the only way of protecting me was in leaving her behind. But I only realized how strong my longing and the pain was when I saw her yesterday the first time in three years. I feared that I would never ever let go of her if I allowed myself to even hug her. I hugged her, though, and now Shizuru is asleep in my bed and I have no plans on letting her go. At least it was a realistic guess about my personality. With this thought I couldn't hold my chuckle back either. Not that I cared.

Right now she was sleeping in my bed and that was all I knew about her for sure. Hell, I didn't even know that one for sure! But my thought drifted back to the past, when I was afraid of the pain a relationship could inflict to your heart. She was to marry some rich snob on behalf of her family to further their great goals since they didn't want to starve when the next winter came, right? I could never understand why someone wanted to make more money the more money they got. More reasons besides useless greed or the urge to pose in front of the so-called high society didn't form in my head, thus I left it at this. Anyway, there was this one point when we would have broken up for sure – at least this is what I thought.

But I lacked trust in Shizuru… my Shizuru. Instead of "Our love will overcome all hardships" I said "Let us be unhappy for sure since there is the risk of problems in the future". So I ceased in answering her letters or calls, didn't visit her in the last three years and run away from my feelings towards her. It was sad to see my little mountain of letters rise with every month. Yes, the letters… all the things I wanted to tell her, all the things and thoughts which gave me a hard time unless I banned them on a sheet of paper, sealing them practically away. Unlike me, she never stopped writing letters and actually sending them.

Yesterday before we went to sleep, I dared to ask her if she still was in love with me, dreading the answer that could possibly end up in rejection. But she only smiled, though her eyes betrayed the loneliness and sadness she felt. It was much worse than the last time we met. And what was her answer?

"You have a strange concept of eternity, Natsuki." Shizuru didn't say more, but she was referring to her first formal love confession she made after the carnival, but yet before she went back to Kyoto some days later. Back then she said she would love me for all eternity, only me and no one else. I rejected her feelings for the second time, what made me think that I destroyed something within her heart that will never ever heal again.

It was then when I first took notice of the stinging pain within my own heart. Is this how you felt all the time, Shizuru? The distance between us didn't make it worse at least, but now after years of endless longing, painful missing and the temptation to give in to my feelings and to take the risk of pain… it is this painful feeling that hinders my sleep, that tires me out, that makes me think of all the mistakes I did in the past.

'_It hurts really bad…'_

But when it already hurt this much… to which extend did her pain then grow if she had the constant feeling of being abandoned by the only friend she had? Unlike her, I knew that I was loved.

It was another mistake I made, selfishly only seeing me and not realizing how much of a torment my behaviour towards her really was.

I sighed, wishing for her to find someone else she could love. Sure, I would be jealous to no end, fuming about being replaced, but when I thought about an actual relationship between the two of us… I felt like I would actually defile her with my sole presence in her heart. I didn't deserve her, since my whole being was cruel and selfish, hurting her while only thinking of my own wellbeing.

And yet her precious little heart was mine. This was something I couldn't change, so at least I could try to protect it from now on until all eternity. I owed her this for the pain I carelessly inflicted to her soul, scarring her with every action I took.

'_Shizuru… my precious and beloved Shizuru, how much did I miss you.'_

I get up and went to grab something to write and some paper. It was on times like this when I had to write one of my letters, whether she would ever read it or not. Thoughts like this I didn't even dare to share with Mai, so my only friend in this matter was this blank sheet of paper. I would tell him how much of a worthless bitch I was, at least concerning my behaviour to Shizuru. Self-criticism was no strong point of my personality, but the moment 'she' came back to my life, the careful build up façade of my life broke down with a frightening speed.

It was sad that my destiny seemed only to consist of the fear from losing important people forever, leading to the total rejection of every friendship and love. Well, I already loved Shizuru, what made it much more painful, but still not as painful as it would be if it was her who abandoned me.

And what of now? The pain of knowing that the distress I caused her was even beyond my imagination led me to a constant heart-ache bordering on torture, sometimes even crossing this line. Well, not sometimes… it was more likely an 'every day at least twice'.

Mai always suspected that something wasn't right with my relationship with her, sometimes even going as far as to indirectly imply a mutual love. The words I used on occasions like this would hurt my Shizuru deeply if she ever came to hear them. I denied everything, resulting in insults. I felt bad afterwards, so I do now. At some point I have to apologize to her.

By now I was writing all the things I did wrong in the past years, not caring about how late it was. Shizuru didn't sleep the last night, so I figured she would sleep in. That reminded me… it was a good occasion to start on my path of redemption. And when I was ready, she would eventually learn of all of my letters and what they were about.

I ended this one – this last – letter with the thought that would pronounce the beginning of my new path:

'For you, my Shizuru, I will even overcome destiny.'

* * *

'_The household was in an uproar since our beloved Ojou-sama was outcast by her own father, the so-called evil landlord. It was hard__ to describe how all of us felt. Our remaining respect for him dropped to dangerous levels, making some of us permanent uneasy and restless. But who seemed to suffer the most was Tomoe-san. She practically glared pure thunder at the master whenever she saw him, talked with as much venom as a human being was able to whenever she spoke of him and would have already tried to kill him if it were not for us to stop her. As if it was not enough to deal with the heavy atmosphere in the mansion…'_

"I don't care if the damn bastard will like it or not, I'm going to serve him his tea, Miyuki, whether you like it or not!" Tomoe-san yelled at me, making me flinch. How could she jeopardize our jobs by changing the roster? She was crazy!

"He will notice it, believe me! He isn't dumb, you know?" I figured that I could at least try to reason with her, since her hate and fury were directed at our employer and not at me. However, somehow I doubted that I would be successful in dissuading her from making whatever she had on her mind.

"Don't try to protect him! This filthy retard will get his punishment and it is not for you to prevent it from happening!" she yelled even louder.

"P… punishment? Erm, Tomoe-san, say… why for all in the world would you want to serve him… the tea anyway?" I asked since this question was something my own mind couldn't come up with an answer to it.

"Don't ask and give me the tray already, damnit! I don't have the freakin' time to deal with you, too!" she shot back at me at which I flinched once again. She was frightening in this condition.

"B… But-"

"Shut up and do it!" she growled while trying to snatch the tray away from me, risking in breaking the tea cup. At this point I had no other choice than to give in to her demands.

"I… I only hope you know what you are doing, Tomoe-san." I said sighing.

But even then my humble mind couldn't comprehend what was coming next: Tomoe spat out thrice in the tea before her grimace formed a mischievous grin. To look baffled at her was all I was able to do in this moment.

"It's tea-time, shitty bastard!" the green-haired maid said while graciously walking away towards her destination. "I'm looking forward to dinner, though."

Her cold bloodedness was really frightening indeed, to say the least. She would give him a hard time for sure.

'_Poor damn bastard.__ But for what he did to Shizuru-sama he deserve all of it.'_ was the answer on the situation my mind came finally up with.

* * *

I didn't dare to sleep, so I was inhaling the scent of my beloved Natsuki for the probably last time. She was so kind to let me stay in her apartment for the night, but what would she do once this night was over? Maybe I was overcomplicating things with my constant thinking about how bad things really were? But even then, I had no family, no vehicle, money on bank accounts which I couldn't access as quickly as I would it like to and my only friend and at the same time love broke up every contact for three years. With my present for her birthday I paid for one last opportunity to see her, to stay with her, to spend some time with her, but it would be over soon. She was still the lone wolf, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that she was colder to me than even in the past. It wasn't unlikely that she would try to get rid of me.

And what will I do then? Without an established social network my money is worthless, without Natsuki my life is worth nothing. Overwhelmed with seeing her blush, with hearing her voice, with feeling her intense gaze upon me, I foolishly thought about my chances with her, but it was when I went to bed that my mind finally processed the events of her birthday.

She was cautious around me, desperately trying not to touch me or even being close to me. This is when I saw that we had to go different ways soon. It was inevitable in the end.

There was no future for me without her, not in the situation I was currently in. Not being loved by the one who truly holds your heart is painful, but yet something I could endure. However, being avoided by the one who truly holds your heart is painful to a degree which words cannot even describe.

Someday she would explain why she broke the contact, but it wouldn't change anything, not for me at least.

The bike I gave her as a birthday present was the symbol for Natsuki in my old life, where I actually had no freedom, no love and no friendship. Either way, I had no use for it anymore. If she makes me leave, I will end this painful existence once and for all and if she let me stay by her side, so I wouldn't be in need of a symbol for her.

Soon enough I drifted off to sleep since I hadn't slept since the day Otou-san made his decision. But the fear of being abandoned by the last living being in the world I cared for made my dream into a nightmare.

* * *

Slowly I opened the door to my bedroom, poking my head through the gap to look if Shizuru was awake yet. When I confirmed that the answer was negative, I left it open and went back to the kitchen, reaching out for the tray with her breakfast.

'_It is not much, but it is a beginning. I will take care of you, Shizuru; this is the least you deserve for all I did to you.'_

Thus I put down the tray on the nightstand and knelt beside the bed to take a better look at my crimson-eyed beauty. She was so… peaceful in her sleeping form, though I could tell that for some reason my Shizuru shed tears some time ago.

'_I hope it wasn't because of me… that would hurt, you know?'_ I said to her in my thoughts, not expecting an answer.

I tilted my head slightly to the right, gazing intently at her, trying to point out the differences between the Shizuru of now and the Shizuru of three years ago. As expected, she was as beautiful as ever, a non-aging goddess with a remarkable presence. My hand came up on her cheek on its own, tenderly stroking her silky skin. She was so warm, so… alive. I often imagined how it would feel to caress her flawless white face with my hand while she was asleep, but now that I could feel it for real… warm and alive, unlike mere dreams and illusions.

My gaze fell upon her silken hair, spread across my pillow. Yes, this wonderful hair of hers, which always smelled like the sweetest strawberries mixed with green tea. Not that I particularly liked green tea or tea in general, but I always thought the scent was calming, apart from the fact that it reminded me of Shizuru of course.

I let my fingers glide through her tawny mane, taking in the sensation of soft strands at my hand. Was it this what I nearly lost out of my own stupidity? Seeing this heavenly being sleeping in front of me made me weak… well, not only weak; in this moment there was no way I would have left her side.

And then there was something I always found mesmerizing: Shizuru's unique crimson-colored eyes. They were gorgeous beyond imagination, though they held a great pain right at the moment. It was saddening to look at her eyes. It was as if I could feel the burden of loneliness only by looking her in the eyes.

'_Wait a minute… did I just say 'look into them right in the moment?!''_

With a start I suddenly retreated my hand. Needless to say that I blushed furiously.

"Sh… Shizuru…" I stammered, really surprised about her being awake. How long did she observe me like this?

But my love said nothing, although her eyes were telling me more than she ever could with using words. She was afraid of my sudden change, afraid that I might stop being gentle to her, afraid that she was only dreaming.

It was now or never.

"Shizuru" I began. "I won't ask you for forgiveness, since I cannot be forgiven. But what I ask for is to allow me to show you my gratitude for being yourself, for loving me and for never forsaking me even though I broke up with you. And there is something… you should read."

"Is… that you, Natsuki?" she asked cautiously, still not able to believe that it wasn't a dream.

"Yeah, it's me… I think." I said, trying to make a joke. A very poor joke, that is.

"Gratitude? Forgiveness? Something… to read? I apologize for being a little dazed, but… what do you mean, Natsuki?"

"I will explain it while you have your breakfast, is this okay? I'm not as good as Mai, but I think it is still edible." I reached for the food and shoved it a little in her direction. Still baffled, she only blinked in slight confusion before stretching her hand out toward the sandwiches I made.

"Well, where do I begin… I think it would be best to start with the events after you left for Kyoto. You know, this was only two weeks after this damn carnival finally ended."

Anyway, it was not only a fight against my innermost barriers, but against my eyes too, since all Shizuru was wearing was one of my t-shirts. I don't know if my chest was too small or her perfect breasts were too big – in any case, it was too tight! Couldn't she at least wear a damn bra?!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Well, what to say… though the dark clouds are already gathering on the horizon, our lovebirds will get their time to cuddle and explore the depths of their mutual feelings. :-)

And since it came up in one of the reviews, let me state the following: I will finish this story and every following one no matter what, as long as I have access to the internet of course. Some updates may take their time, but they will definitely come. To be precise, I try to make them on a weekly basis.

Please read, enjoy and rate.

**Disclaimer:** Mai HiME / Mai Otome and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Some were short, some were long, some were sad, some were happy… but all of them had two things in common: they all said the one way or another the magical three words Natsuki earlier said indirect to me and no one of them was ever sent to its destination… no one of them was ever sent to me.

It would take some time to read them all, therefore I gave up the idea of going through all of those letters today, so that I had the time to press my precious little Natsuki against my body really hard, practically suffocating her. But she said it on her own, she don't deserve such a thing like forgiveness or a special show of consideration, hence resulting in me abusing her poor little warm body for my own selfish needs of snuggling and cuddling.

'_Oh, how I have waited for this to happen! I love you! I love you! I love you! Natsuki, I love you!'_

I'm not serious with the suffocating-thing, though, since both of us actually enjoy our close company. So I'm not strangling her to death with my death-grip-hug… at least not yet. And there I almost forgot how sweet this intoxicating scent of hers really was.

'_Natsuki, you are mine now and I will never let go of you!'_

"Natsuki, say it again… please." I softly whispered her in the ear, arousing her with hot puffs of breath against her sensible skin.

"It's embarrassing, you know?" she only answered, but her voice was no more than a really cute whimper.

'_Kawaii! With a Natsuki like this my family problems can wait at least some time… or even longer, I don't really care anymore.'_

"Hai, but you make me very happy every time you say it, Nat-su-ki." I whispered in her ear again, breathing hot air against her skin, her neck, her auricle. It made her shiver – and I liked that as much as she did!

"Well… then… ahem… Shizuru, I… erm… damn, it IS embarrassing." she practically cried with a mix of whine and whimper. It was self-evident that my raven-haired love was blushing.

'_Poor Natsuki, almost crying now. Kawaii!'_

So I couldn't hold back anymore, pressing my lips vigorously against hers once more this day. It was a wonderful feeling, I actually felt free as if I was flying. My heart didn't stop beating fast and hard, blood rushed to my cheeks and my body must have been radiating from all the heat my Natsuki caused within me. It was… marvellous.

When I let go of her soft and moist lips, I began to nibble at her earlobe, licking it while whispering sweet words of love and care. I could already feel her resolve weaken, her body going limp in my arms.

"Na-tsu-ki… I beg of you… just say it… once more… please."

It wasn't even a whisper anymore. What I did was breathing these words at her ear, pressing her a little bit harder against my body. I wondered if she heard me at all, but before I could seriously start to ponder about this question, she started so speak once more… well, stammering was more accurate I think.

"Your… little puppy loves you more… than mayo… my red-eyed goddess."

'_HOW CUT__E! I love you! I love you! Oh Natsuki, my Natsuki! I love you!'_

I could feel her body practically burn up. I bet she never ever blushed this hard. Then again, I could not resist anymore, I rubbed my body against hers, showering her in delightful kisses and pecks, nibbling at her skin wherever I was able to, caressing her wherever my hands got the chance to touch her.

Natsuki was naturally shy, so she chose to confess to me in this unusual way. Her stammering, her blush, her flushed face, the way she twiddled with her fingers… it was the perfect picture of someone drowning in embarrassment. She was SO cute when she said it at first! And she was SO cute whenever she repeated it!

Of course she didn't say the magical three words yet, but who cares? Now that I know how she feels about me and why she did what she did in the past several years, my life couldn't be greater at all.

And there was something else I should take care of… the rising heat in a… well, 'certain region'… something I held back for as long as I can think. I wondered how much it would take to make me lose my mind and revel in devouring this little sweet body of my beautiful flower.

'_Not much… I think…'_

This cuteness was simply too much for me to withstand. I… couldn't resist anymore!

My hands were wandering around her heated body, diving under her shirt and shorts, taking in the sensation of the perfect and smooth skin of her back and behind.

"N… Natsuki… stop me... if you… don't, then… then I… Natsuki…"

Her answer was a moan directly in my ear. And when one of her hands started to pull up my own shirt, the beast in me awakened.

I became hungry and the only thing that could satisfy this wild and uncontrollable hunger was the girl in my arms.

And now… it was too late to stop.

* * *

'_Damn, how could this happen to me? Damn this stupid brat… first he spoils her__ rotten and then I have to deal with the shit… damn her, damn him! Did he really think she would break down crying and return ruefully? But then again, I wouldn't be searching for this damn bitch now.'_

For as long as I worked for Sajonji Fujino, this hasn't happened to me yet. And now he wanted a report and I didn't know what to say. Well, I knew what to say, but what I didn't know was how I would say it without upsetting him. And in these days he seemed to be in an especially foul mood.

But it couldn't be helped, so I knocked on the door on waited to be called in. It didn't take him long to do so.

"Come in." the deep voice rang from behind the door.

I gulped, took a deep breath to steady myself, straightened my shirt and opened the door. I took two steps forward, closed the door behind me and went straight to his desk, not daring to sit down without permission. Not that I expected him to offer me a seat in the first place, though.

His dark brown eyes seemed to look deep into my soul, piercing through my inner walls, making me flinch without an apparent reason. Sajonji Fujino's whole presence was intimidating in a special way and that was me thinking that. Over the years he perfected his oppressing aura and I couldn't think of how someone would feel who didn't know him for all this time like I did? I supposed, he would crush them without lifting a single finger.

Obviously he took his time to weaken me and my thinking capacity by letting me stand before him in silence. As if he wasn't in the stronger position anyways. Since I couldn't look him in his eyes, my own eyes wandered across his desk, memorizing every detail, however unimportant it might have been at all. It was big, tidy and blatantly obvious expensive – like everything in his study. And there was a cup of tea there, surely an antique and also expensive one. It seemed that he at least had a weakness for good tea.

He lead the cup to his mouth, took a sip and then, out of a sudden, his deep voice rang once more my ears on this day.

"Since you are here, I presume you lost sight of her?"

His voice was cold and without emotion. And here I thought he would be somewhat angry. But I knew him well enough to tell that his anger takes other forms than simply yelling at someone. He had his means, so it would be wise not to let my guard down yet.

"Hai, Fujino-sama."

Since he didn't ask me what circumstances lead me to failing the task he gave me, I said nothing to explain myself. He would ask, but only if he wanted to know, that is.

"And how could you lose her with all the support I granted you, Wáng-san?"

In his way of emotionless efficiency he didn't waste time on punishing unreliable underlings. Not that I expected him to indulge recurring failure, but it wouldn't help to improve the situation if he did so yet at this point. He wasn't a fool and this was my luck. But now I had to explain the situation and he would assign me a new mission. At least he didn't concede his fellow men any brain, so I wouldn't have to think about my further steps on my own. I wasn't dumb, but thinking very far into the future is troublesome and highly imprecise, so it wouldn't be me who made a wrong guess in case something wasn't as he expected it to be. Being thought of as a fool had its own advantages, you see.

"To put it simple, our cars couldn't keep up with the sick and frightening speed she drove with on the highway. Since she headed northwards, I concluded that she would make at least a stop at Fuuka. However, the town is far too large to actually find someone there. Someone of whom we don't even know if she really is there, that is."

"I see. But anyways, I take it for granted that your men are searching still for her in the city of Fuuka?"

"Hai, Fujino-sama. I returned to you to report the status and to receive further orders."

He folded his hands, closed his eyes and went silent for a few moments. I couldn't help but smile a little. How could I not? I predicted him to behave in this way even before I came here and now I was proud of myself to actually know him well enough to do so. This would make at least one success today.

"Is something funny?"

Since he stared at me with his stoic face and cold eyes, I shook off my reverie and straightened my posture.

"N... no, sir, nothing."

Without wasting time, the master started to give me my next mission.

"There are three locations in Fuuka where Shizuru could actually hide: the 'Dancing Flame' restaurant in downtown, somewhere around Fuuka Gakuen with the adjoining dorms and 'Kuga's Motorcycle Maintenance', a garage for motorbikes. Even if she isn't to be found there, try to make them spill her location. And in case this also fails, I want you to come back for further orders. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir, though there is one thing I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"How far am I allowed to go with… well, the interrogations?"

The question could also be 'How much are you inclined to cover up if I get in trouble with the police?'

"If someone is to be found in the ICU resulting out of your actions, I will make sure that you join them. Behave as always… don't mention my name and I will take care of it within one day. You have the number for this kind of problems, Wáng-san. Don't disappoint me."

"May I ask another question, Fujino-sama?"

His impatience grew with every second passed, but since I wasn't allowed to phone him directly, all possible problems and questions must have been taken care of now.

"If we find her and she isn't willing to accompany us, how far-"

"In this case, Wáng-san, I don't even care if you have to blow up a fully occupied train, bus, restaurant or whatever. All I want is for Shizuru to come back here to this mansion without a single scratch. Is that clear?"

"Hai, Fujino-sama."

"You may go, Wáng-san."

"As you wish, master. I will take my leave now."

As I left his study, I thought about the upcoming mission.

'_Great, now I have the licence to kill.'_

It wasn't frequent that I was allowed to kill; to be honest, this was the second time in… well, fifteen years? Of course, I wouldn't be dumb enough to actually take a life only to accomplish my mission if there was any other way, since I was sure the old creep would be overjoyed to find a neat opportunity to get rid of a handyman who not only witnessed, but actually did all the crimes for him.

Whatever, to survive I would have to think like him, what meant – if it really proved to be a necessary step to take – that I should make one of my men to do the filthy job, so that I would be in the position to sacrifice an underling for my own safety and wellbeing if there ever arose the need to do so.

And there was one more reason, though: I never ever killed a human before, because I wanted to be able to look my daughter Nina straight in her eyes. My wife and therefore her mother was gone and I didn't want her to have a murderer as a father. Could I ever hold her again with hands that killed innocent people? Some people might call me evil, but I know how it feels to lose a loved one. I will do what I can to avoid any situation where I would be forced to take an innocent life.

'_Anyways, this mission is really something new and interesting, a welcome change to the usual business. I wonder what will come to happen in the next __few days. I hope Nina will be alright on her own.'_

I went back to my little room here at the mansion, fetched my two guns, the explosives and some… well, 'useful tools' for quick, clean and efficient interrogations. With this I made my way to the car, leaving Kyoto for the highway in the direction of Fuuka yet within the current hour.

* * *

I was exhausted, I was trashed, I was broken… and yet I felt fulfilled, I felt great, I felt like flying without the need to take care of any problems my life had to offer.

And… well, I had my first kiss and my first sex – and all of this with Shizuru!

Regarding the latter, I should better say… she had sex with me? And here I thought Mikoto was a wild and untamed beast! What 'she' did to me… it was simply magnificent!

'_Damn, this is__ a word I hardly use otherwise. Come to think of it… how long were we…?'_

With this thought on my mind I tried to check my clock, but with Shizuru wrapped around me, our legs intertwined and her head buried between my breasts it was not a simple thing to do. When I finally get a look at my clock, all I could do was gulp in shock: five hours!!

'_No wonder I feel so… weird!'_

I more or less confessed to her around seven in the morning, she then started to read some of the letters until eight and then… well, then this damn women made me say the most embarrassing things in my life, broke down all shyness and resistance, kissed away my mind and sanity – and seduced me afterwards. And now it was past one in the afternoon.

However, the only thing I regret is that she had more of me than I of her, not that I was currently… 'unsatisfied' after what she did to me. I simply wished to make it up to her, to show her how deep I really feel and care for my one and only love.

'_Mhh,__ but I could- NO! You had already five hours, Natsuki, how long do you want to stretch this session?!'_

I practically chastised myself in thought for the mere idea of getting back on her, making even more love than we did up until now. But here my mind was beginning to work properly again, making me notice things like 'the order of progress in relationships'. This meant, a relationship should usually begin with a date, should proceed then with a kiss, a corny love confession, maybe some groping and molesting and then 'this and that', you know?

But I only kind of confessed to her and we started this whole thing with the longest sex-session I ever heard of.

I mean, once Tate proudly posed that he could make 'it' to Mai for three hours at maximum, earning envious glances amongst his male and also some of the female friends as well as an earful from a red-faced Mai herself. Since I had no further reference, it was only naturally that I took three hours for a long time.

And now? Shizuru proved to me that she had 'very' creative ideas, was more flexible than I ever thought a human being was capable of and had the endurance of a top athlete, if not more. And concerning the whole creative-part: I was amazed what she was capable of with only what her own body provided her with and I was also glad she didn't have any kind of special nasty adult toys at hand. That would have definitely killed me off.

'_Memo to myself: never mention those toys when Shizuru is nearby!'_

Her soft and godly voice broke me out of my thoughts.

"That was so much better than only touching yourself, wasn't it?"

"Yeah" I responded absentmindedly. When my brain could comprehend what she did make me admit, I felt my cheeks burn up in shame. "S… Shizuru, t… th… this… why… how…"

"Ara, it was written in one of those letters. Don't you know anymore what they say?" she laughed.

"You could at least admit that you also did it…" I tried my comeback.

"Many many times, my Natsuki, and I always thought of you." my angelic girlfriend said while grinning at me.

It was so unfair! I tried to embarrass her and all I achieved was that it was me who was blushing in the end. Damn her talent for teasing me to no end!

All I could do was to give it a try and make an attempt to change the topic.

"Say, Shizuru, would you… erm, like to go out with me?" I stammered, still not fully comfortable with the idea of having a girlfriend, even if it wasn't official since I had to ask her yet, though I knew her answer already.

Anyways, as I thought said earlier, things had to follow a certain order, which implies that you didn't have a girlfriend unless a girl you asked accepted.

The reason why I thought in this way was simple: When I once grew old, it would always be a pleasant memory to look back upon. You could say 'You remember the day when I asked you to become my girlfriend?' It would allow you to look back at your life without regrets. At least it was what I thought about this, so I would have to ask her out on a date to do things properly, although the order of events in itself wasn't what I would call proper.

'_Whatever, the earlier we go the earlier I can eat something__, too. I'm starving!'_

"Going out like… going with you on a date?" she asked carefully, her red eyes lingering on my green ones. She was smiling and it was evident that Shizuru was not only happy, but overflowing with joy.

"Y… yeah… a date… if you want." I said, trying to get rid of this feeling of uneasiness which came with the certainty of having a partner, for not being single anymore, for being bound, for losing in some kind of way a part of my freedom. However great Shizuru was, I was no fool not to see that any relationship brought both good and bad things. Sure, the good aspects would outweigh the bad ones easily, with Shizuru even more so, but nevertheless it would change life forever, that much was for sure.

"It would be a pleasure to go out with you on a date, my sweetheart." she mumbled into my chest, tickling me there with her tongue on purpose.

'_Does she even have limits?!'_

But all my body could say to object was a moan, what wasn't an objection at all.

"Ara, how greedy my Natsuki-chan is." her clear and pure voice sent me in a state of need, rendering me helpless against her assault. There was nothing I could actually do, not that I wanted to anyway. I even forgot my hunger and the fact that-

'_Stop it! Five hours are enough for a welcome-party!'_

It was a pity that my mind was slower than my body: the sole reason why I could think of stopping Shizuru was that she already stopped. Otherwise, I would comply with her wish for more displays of affection without hesitation.

'_Creepy how mu__ch power she holds over me. I wonder if I could also… mhh, interesting idea. When the right time comes, I will make sure to give it at least a try.'_

"We should get up, Natsuki, and take a shower."

Before I could even ask, she answered my question.

"Together, of course." Shizuru whispered in my ear, nibbling once more at my earlobe.

I had no idea where my usual shyness was and when it would return, but I wanted to use the time being with her as intimate as possible.

'_What the hell?! Was it really me to think THAT?!__ I thought the megahorny one was Shizuru and not me?! Damn, she has a serious impact on me here.'_

"Do you have any idea where we could go?" she asked me full of expectation.

"Well, the 'Dancing Flame' is a good one and that's not even because Mai is the owner. They are really great and on top of that their price range is something I can afford."

"The 'Dancing Flame'… what a nice play of words. What a shame that all you could come up with was 'Kuga's Motorcycle Maintenance'."

"Do you make fun of me?!" I wasn't hurt, but my pride was! That was something I couldn't acquiesce!

"Ara, you were even more creative in bed than in choosing the name of your garage, what wasn't much at all."

"How could I? You monopolized the position on top for yourself, not letting me do anything…"

"Ikezu, so it wasn't enjoyable?" That was something I didn't miss while she was gone: the fake hurt and the following pout! But it was as if my genes enforced me to fall for it every time, even though I knew that it wasn't real.

"No! Of course not! I loved it, although I doubt that I can stand properly, not to mention walk for the rest of the day."

I couldn't help but speak out loud what I already felt the whole time since my consciousness fully returned after we finished our… precious 'together-time'. To be honest, it felt like there was no place on my body at which she hadn't at least bitten, licked, scratched or inserted something. As I said, she was creative and flexible, to say the least.

Our lips met in a tender kiss, not even remotely like the strong and forcefully ones during the past hours. But I decided that I liked both kinds of kisses – if it was with Shizuru, that is. When our lips parted, she let go of me and get on her feet, standing on shaky legs. I didn't want to imagine how many attempts I would need to keep myself up on my own feet without her helping me. And what would Mai say to these 'markings' all over my skin?

'_Damn, at least today's meal will be well earned.'_

Whatever, the moment she let go of me was just the moment when my body started to long for her touch. I didn't know I was this clingy, but it didn't matter to me. Now my only thoughts were how I could manage to snuggle with her one more time before we went on our date.

* * *

_The 'Dancing Flame'__ wordplay_ – The kanji 舞 (Mai) not only stands for the name of (Tokiha) Mai, but for the Japanese word 'dancing' or 'dance' for that matter. Regarding the 'Flame'… well, for Mai it should be self-evident. ;-)

_Kawaii_ – 'cute' in Japanese

_Fuuka Gakuen_ – Fuuka Academy; simply put the school where the HiME-stuff in the series happened


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** As I have already stated in my profile, I am really sorry for this huge delay. The last weeks weren't what I hoped they would be, but nevertheless I will keep my promise and continue my stories. And no, this don't mean that I only keep writing out of obligation, but because I love ShizNat and writing stories. :-)

Please enjoy and feel free to write a small review, I really appreciate it.

Special thanks to all of you who took already their time to regard my work. ;-)

**Di****sclaimer:** Mai HiME / Mai Otome and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Before we got under the shower, I thought that our session lasted 'only' for five hours. But now, after the shower, I corrected it up to six hours. She was definitely crazy, but so was I. Is this what people call 'love'?

'_Hell, how did I__ even manage to live without her and… 'this' all the time up until now?!'_

While I dried my still damp hair, Shizuru was looking for some of my clothes she could use till she got the chance to buy some for herself. She used her bike to come to Fuuka, what meant that she was only able to bring a few small things with her like the pen I once gave her as a birthday present, her diary, a credit card or other important stuff, not that I cared right at the moment. This could easily wait at least another day.

We wanted to go out on our date, but after I examined my body… well, let's say that I looked just like I felt: swallowed, chewed and disgorged. I sat down on my bed, throwing the towel carelessly behind me and grabbing the comb on the nightstand. While I worked on my hair, my eyes automatically wandered to Shizuru… okay, not exactly Shizuru, but more precisely her creamy and firm behind. How could I not, though? Her beauty was stunning and I felt the sudden urge to hit myself hard and painful for rejecting her and her precious feelings towards me for all the time until today. Heck, I even refused to recognize my own feelings for her! I was dumb and I have no problem to admit it… well, at least as long as I don't have to say it out loud, that is.

"Natsuki, how about an extensive shopping tour at the weekend?" a sweet voice in Kyoto-ben reached my ears, directing some of my attention towards her and away from this gorgeous body.

"Ah, as long as I don't have to pose for you in a ridiculous little piece of nothing, I'm fine with it." I responded still somewhat absentminded. Damn, her legs were as sexy as her ass!

"Ara, now that I saw you in your fully exposed beauty, I don't have the right to look at you in a nice piece of undergarment? Ikezu." she tried to tease me, but since I was more focused on her well shaped legs, I didn't even blush. Did I mention that she looked absolutely great?

Shizuru blinked puzzled, turned around and began to smile at me, her uncovered body fully exposed to my longing eyes. The mere sight of it made me want to do 'it' to her once more.

'_Heck, I hope word will never come out about this…'_

"Do you see something interesting, Natsuki?" she asked, still smiling sweetly.

And now my instinct kicked in, making me realize that I was obviously staring at her with a drooling mouth, hence - lo and behold – resulting in heated and reddened cheeks of mine.

"Shizuru, stop teasing me already!" I still managed to mumble while looking away.

"But it's fun, Natsuki, and you look cute with a blush." now this crazy women giggled.

"Whatever…" I grumbled.

"I always thought you enjoyed it? Was I this wrong?" she asked the obviously rhetorical question while grinning like an idiot. It's not good to have a girlfriend who can see through your behaviour and knows what you think.

"Just shut up already…" was all I could answer, though. But since she knows what I really meant, this was okay as an answer I guess.

"Ara"

"Yeah, Ara." I dryly responded.

Still giggling Shizuru went back to going through my clothing, trying to find something that would match her figure. But from what I was able to experience over the previous hours, I was sure she would never find anything that matches the size of her overwhelming chest… I wonder what she will come up with to solve this particular problem.

* * *

This was a great day, I decided! Natsuki woke me up with a self-made breakfast, confessing her undying love to me, allowing me to show her my love, even joining our little session in the shower and now I had the opportunity to wear her clothes – if I found some of the right size, that is! Whatever, I was in heaven!

I was overflowing with glee! But right now I had to take care of other things, though.

"Natsuki, are those all you have?" I asked while pointing with my finger at her closet.

"Erm… well, yeah… why?"

"Well, you see… I hoped to find at least one cute dress or nice skirt."

"Wait a minute – did you just imply that I have some dresses?!"

She looked as if I accused her of a crime. Mental check: no dress in Natsuki's closet.

'_What a pity. And here I thought I could discover her most secret hidden clothes and making her wear it on occasion. It's a real shame indeed.' _

Mental check: buy nice dresses for Natsuki on the weekend.

"So you didn't find anything you could wear?" she asked, catching me off guard.

"Huh?" I asked somewhat distracted.

"I thought that if there isn't anything in there, I could… erm, well… look for the old uniform you once left with me."

It was even beyond me why she blushed when saying it. Well, to be honest, I could understand it rather well. The skirts of those pieces of cloth were really short and who would keep an old school uniform after all those years if it was not for having at least one little memory of a loved one? Not that I would ever admit it, but I would keep hers just like she kept mine. That reminds me… I still had her lace panty I got hold on during the incident with the lingerie-robbing orphan.

"Eh?! Why are you blushing?" a puzzled and altogether shocked Natsuki asked while pointing her finger at me.

"Well, you see…" I began. _'Think fast!'_ "I thought that it would be nice to go in a matching outfit. Do you… well, still have your own school uniform?" _'Phew, that was too close. Now that I have my Natsuki as my girlfriend, I am really easily distracted.'_

But who wouldn't be? I just fulfilled a bunch of my innermost dreams within a few hours. It was only natural to be woozy from joy.

"Erm, well… yeah, I think I still have it somewhere." she answered, blushing in a slightly deeper shade of red.

"Then let's change. I only hope it still fits us." I replied, now eager to see her in this nostalgic outfit once more since the carnival. True, we met on occasion for the following three years, but it was only whenever Natsuki had the time to do so, which was always during her school holidays. Thanks to these circumstances I hadn't seen her in her in this getup ever since.

Natsuki left her spot on the bed and knelt beside her bed, reaching for something underneath it. With little effort she pulled out a medium-sized wooden box. After she opened it, I sneaked behind her to get a better look at the contents of the little chest and what I saw filled my heart with warmth: Not only was my old uniform there, but also pictures featuring both of us or me alone, shards of my old tea cup I once broke by accident, a lock of chestnut-colored hair – my hair I guessed – one of my old handkerchiefs, a manual for tea-brewing, a small bottle of the perfume I used back then when I was in school and more things I couldn't identify at first glance. I had no need to, though.

"Kawaii!" I couldn't hold back my excitement any longer.

"Ieek!" my poor little puppy shrieked with a start.

"Ara, what a cute girlish sound that was! Come here, my little sweetheart!" With this I practically bounced on her, pressing my uncovered breasts against her naked back with full intention, encircling her slim waist with my arms.

My hands automatically wandered up to her chest, kneading the small mounds of tender flesh, making her moan once more this day.

I couldn't help it, really! She was like a really huge beacon amidst the dark night and I was nothing more than the moth being attracted by this radiating light. I held back all those years, now I had much to catch up on.

Her earlobe got some more of my caressing nibbles and tickling licks before I asked her the obvious.

"Are you ready for the next round, Natsuki?"

She pressed her back against my chest, her hands gripping the comforter on the bed in front of her very hard and without mercy. While I waited for her to answer, I took one of her nipples between my thumb and index finger, rubbing it rather hard.

And then she answered with a deep and load moan… and this answer was exactly what I was waiting for. Besides, I always liked a date in the evening more than in the afternoon.

* * *

When I finally arrived, my underlings were already waiting at the agreed meeting point, an old warehouse near at the port where ships rarely found their way to. It was a perfect impromptu base, but nothing more at this point of our mission.

'_I could use it for the longer type of interrogation__s, though. I should keep it in mind.'_

"Wáng-san, what are your orders?" one of them asked me.

"Not so fast, Yutaka, first I shall brief all of you on the current situation. Since this mission is more important than the work we usually do, I won't allow a sloppy performance. Is that understood?"

Yutaka, Tsuyoshi and Naoki answered verbally, Hanada, Hiroshi and Shouta only nodded, my 'special friend' Isamu did nothing, but out of all of them he was the most competent one, so I could take it as granted that he fully got what I said.

These people were my personal bunch of underlings, my own hired agents so to speak, although the phrase 'agent' is more flattering than they deserved, that went at least for all of them but Isamu-san, of course. He was my second-in-command, he could fight with both hands and weapons, he was intelligent and most important he looked like the average commoner from the street, what made him rather unremarkable. He looked almost harmless. This made him the perfect man for this kind of work, I decided.

The others… well, Hanada was a wiry man, he couldn't even fight properly, he smelled rather bad and in his opinion personal hygiene was an option, but not a necessity. However, he was a genius with computers and all kind of related machines and in comparison for his potential he was content with a relatively small payment. However, I always preferred him to go with the second or third group, what made a huge difference on my ability to breathe when seated in a car.

The same went for Naoki, one of the men for the rough kind of work. He was somewhat fat, had oily hair, used to stink just like Hanada and was – in my personal opinion – rather dumb. What made him useful, however, was his intimidating stature combined with his fearsome passion for street fighting. It was convenient to have him at my side.

Hiroshi was the oldest one in our group, an old mechanic with good knowledge on building, using and even disarming many kinds of explosives. He could install small bugs at nearly every place I ordered him to, could manipulate cars or other mechanisms and was an overall sharp individual.

Yatuka, however, was the same like Shouta and Naoki: A dirty fighter, a man for rough work. You see, for every mission this kind of people came in handy and they were even easily content with a small amount of money, some cheap food and the occasional chance to beat someone to a pulp.

And Tsuyoshi? He was the newest member in the team and I didn't know yet if I should use him for this job. He was blonde, had eyes colored in a warm brown, his build was really attractive and he was even intelligent enough to fool other people that he was not, what gave him an overall advantage in many situations. Since he was bisexual, I could make him lure every pray in every trap I prepared, but I hadn't had the chance to make use of this tactic very often as of yet.

'_But when I find this brat, I will at least give it a try, though I believe that she is what the rumours claim her to be: a freakin' dyke. What else could have made her old man this mad?'_

"Wáng-san?" Hiroshi asked, breaking my train of thoughts and getting me back to the current situation.

"Ah, yes. Well, the mission… there are three places where we should find our target in case she really is here in Fuuka. Hanada and Naoki… both of you will go and observe a garage on the outskirts of the city. 'Kuga's Motorcycle Maintenance' is its name, you should easily find it. Stay there and try not to attract unnecessary attention."

Both of them grumbled, but said nothing. With a snort I continued.

"Yutaka, Shouta and Isamu will go to the 'Dancing Flame', a rather exclusive restaurant in downtown."

All but Isamu nodded, but I knew the latter got it, too.

"I will go with Hanada and Tsuyoshi to Fuuka Gakuen and the adjoining dorms. We will meet here tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. to discuss our next steps. If someone of you is to be found out, do not come back here unless you are sure that nobody is following you, is that clear?"

Everyone nodded, even Isamu. Good.

"In case you find our target, do nothing to capture her. Proceed as I said, report tomorrow morning and we will finish this in no time without risking anything. I wish for this job to go smooth and without complications. Any questions?"

I looked everyone in their eyes, receiving nothing but determination and excitement over this well paid assignment. The higher the importance, the higher the payment. At least the boss isn't a cheapskate when it comes down to pay for resolving a really slippery affair.

"Yeah, I have one."

'_Naoki. Well, I should have expected this much.'_

"Yes? What is it, Naoki?" I tried not to sound annoyed.

"Well, should we only observe or should we start to gather information on the target's whereabouts right now? I mean, are we allowed to interrogate some people?" he spoke while scuffling his hand through his oily and unkempt hair, obviously embarrassed that it was always him to ask questions at the end of every briefing.

I sighed, closing my eyes for a brief moment before I explained it one more time.

"Naoki, you see… the term 'observation' comes from the word 'observe', which means nothing more than to stay still and look at something. And with my addition of 'not gather any attention' I meant that you should stay there and look at the building, remembering all things that differ from normality of a simple garage and report them tomorrow. Don't you think that asking questions about the whereabouts of a billionaires daughter would make you… well, somewhat suspicious?"

"If you say so, boss." he said, this time poking with his index finger in his nose. He really was disgusting, but on the other hand he was a superb fighter… and he was cheap and also easy to handle. It couldn't be helped.

"Okay, we depart in five minutes, so check your equipment and make sure the cars don't run out of fuel. I won't indulge shortcomings out of pure idiocy!"

With this we made sure to prepare ourselves for the day, trying to eliminate as many risks as we were able to. After all, we were professionals… Isamu and I, that is.

* * *

She was incredible! My arms were slung tightly around her waist, my head was resting on her shoulder. I didn't do it only for comfort, but for my safety in the first place. To say the truth, I would have never guessed that my Shizuru could be so… bold and forward! I wonder if she was twisting her own personality during our school time, since everybody saw her only drinking tea and all this stuff. And now she was practically racing with a murderous and neck-breaking speed towards where our first date was to be at: Mai's restaurant 'Dancing Flame'.

To be precise, we departed at six in the evening, but we decided to take the long way since we could enjoy the ride a little bit more. Did I mention yet that the roaring monster we were seated on had a tested top speed of 340+ km/h? The sound of the engine – and this thing consisted of really nothing more than an engine with a seat and two wheels – was deafening! I couldn't await her to get out of the city to-

She revved the engine and put a significant amount of speed on top of what we were racing with within the borders of the town. I was practically seated on a machine with far more than 200 horsepower, a screaming beast of steel and heat.

'_This__ feels almost as good as sex with Shizuru, damnit!'_

I tried not to think of the possibility of Shizuru causing an accident, what would definitely kill off both of us in an instant. Yes, we were wearing our biking suits for the duration of the ride, because we could change our clothes at Mai's whenever we wanted to. It wouldn't be the first time that I did so.

What made me nervous was the style she rode with. It was risky, didn't even remotely involve the use of the breaks and made me lose every feeling for speed or our surroundings.

'_The hell?! Why does she always oscillate between extremes?!'_

This wasn't pure fun anymore… it was… an adrenaline-orgy to say the least! I wouldn't even admit it under torture, but I nearly crashed her waist with my clinging to her and thought about how to justify my urge to pee myself out of excitement!

I closed my eyes while my heart was beating hard and fast as if it tried to jump out of my chest. And this hellish machine was mine? Fuck, I couldn't believe it! I would tame this beast and its power, right after I tamed my girlfriend… well, I should reverse the order of my goals since I highly doubt that I could ever tame 'her'!

'_That reminds me… it's getting darker. Should we- oh, we are already back in town? Shit, how fast did she drive?!__'_ I was practically clutching at her waist, not letting go of her.

Eventually we headed to downtown. I checked my wristwatch, which was reading 7.23 p.m. right now. It was a good time, but I hoped that we would be able to get a table for two yet. I should have made a reservation, but it's too late now. However, no matter the circumstances, I knew Mai wouldn't let me down, hence I had no reason to worry. It would only lead to embarrass me further because I would have to explain why I wished so desperately for a dinner for two with Shizuru in the evening.

I sighed, holding tight onto her well-shaped body, feeling her warmth even through the thick layers of leather. Never ever was I able to feel this much gratitude. She was what I longed for the most: a bright future in which I weren't condemned to be alone.

We were within the allowed speed limit now, but the engine still was roaring like an aggressive beast. The people on the sidewalk looked at this strange display unfolded before their eyes: two girls on a hardly tameable bike. I wasn't a person who liked public affection, so I became somewhat uncomfortable under the stare of the bystanders. It got even worse when we came to a stop not far from Mai's restaurant.

With shaky legs I got down from the bike, still holding tight onto Shizuru to prevent myself from falling to the ground. It would be even more embarrassing than to endure the stare of all those eyes that were directed at us.

I took off my helmet while Shizuru only opened her visor.

"Shizuru, down that road you will find a boutique. Beftween it and the adjoining building there is a small alley leading to a closed gate on the left. This is the backyard of Mai's apartment. It is safer for this hot baby to wait there instead of parking it on a public parking area."

She only nodded in agreement and reached for the key I held out to her. With another nod of agreement I gave her one of the sweetest smiles I could manage on the way. Shizuru waved her hand at me, revived the engine and draw once more the whole attention of all the bystanders on the sidewalk at her. Bringing the visor back in place, she headed towards the place I described her just now, while I was on my way to get a table for both of us.

However, there were a few things that made me nervous. At first there was the fact that I was on a date with my girlfriend. I was sure Mai would make a ruckus about it since I always refused to listen to her constant pleading that I should at least try to date someone. The next thing was that I was together with a girl. Not that I feared she would be disgusted, but with exception of Chie Harada and Aoi Senoh we hardly knew any lesbian couples. It still was something 'different' to handle with if you were accustomed to 'normal' pairings. Well, another problem was that Shizuru had no fitting clothes yet, what lead to her wearing her old school uniform.

'_Kami, please don't let her find out that I have a uniform fetish… I would die!'_

And then she persuaded me to wear my old one too! And since the skirt was this damn short, Mai would hardly miss the biting marks at my legs. At least my knee-length socks covered my calves. What made it even worse, she knew that I was naturally shy, so I would have a hard time to explain her why I was wearing my old school uniform, why I had bite marks at my legs on the same day on which the famous Fujino Shizuru returned to Fuuka and why the two of us were having a dinner in a romantic setting.

'_Shit, why am I even doing this… oh, right… I wanted Shizuru __to shut up about an embarrassing topic. Gaah! As if my current situation wasn't awkward. I should learn to think before speaking…'_

I finally sighed, preparing myself for what was about to come.

Distracted as I was, I didn't take notice of the man in one of the cars standing at the side of the road who continued to stare at me since the moment I arrived.

* * *

_Ikezu_ – 'Meanie' in Japanese

_The 'Dancing Flame' restaurant_ – Mai's restaurant in downtown of Fuuka City. The meaning of the name is to be found in the explanations of chapter 5

_Kawaii_ – 'cute' in Japanese

_Fuuka Gakuen_ – Fuuka Acadamy; Fuuka is the location (name of the town/region) and Gakuen is 'Academy' in Japanese

_Sound of Ducati Desmosedici GP7_ – look at youtube for the vid "DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP7 SOUND MALAYSIA 2007", this thing makes really a hell of a noise (the real sound really begins around 0:40)

_Kami__ (jap. _神) – While you can translate 'Kami-sama' (which is directed at one single 'person') more or less directly with 'God', the sole word 'Kami' is meant as a kind of address towards the several millions of god-like spirits in the polytheistic pantheon of Shintō. To translate it properly isn't a simple task for the word 'Kami' not only covers Gods and deities, but also spirits of dead people, souls or simple awe-inspiring things like huge mountains, pretty animals etc. Natsuki uses it here since Shintō is still the main religion in Japan and nothing seemed to indicate her to be a member of any religion at all. See it as a commonly used phrase. You see, an atheist would still tend to say 'Oh god!' as an exclamation of astonishment or horror, no? ;-)


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** All I use the author's notes for is to apologize for my delays, no? Whatever, I'm sorry for the longest delay by now, but I hope you can come to enjoy this chapter nevertheless. :-)

**Di****sclaimer:** Mai HiME / Mai Otome and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

When I entered my friend's restaurant, I wasn't really surprised about the crowd in there. It was easily one of the best places in downtown where one could eat, though it wasn't really something everyone could afford. Even so, it was crowded right now, leaving me no choice. Since I knew the way, I went straight to the back-area, where guests weren't permitted. But I wasn't a normal guest, right? We knew each other, I even helped Mai to build up this place and the staff knew me, too.f

Without problems, I was able to reach my destination, knocking at her door without hesitation. It is strange that I expected her to be in her office, for I knew that she enjoyed cooking more than anything else. But she was also the manager of this place, leaving her no choice in this matter. My knocks were answered and I opened the door, stepping in and closing it behind me. It took her a moment to finish her paperwork, then she looked up and didn't seem to be surprised in the slightest by my appearance.

"Hey, sorry about yesterday. I hope I can make up for it." she began, but then hesitating when she saw the irritated look on my face.

"Eh?" was all I could come up with, though, confusing Mai in the process.

"Don't tell me you didn't read it?" she asked then, blinking genuinely surprised.

"Read what?" was my answer, still not getting her point.

"The text message I sent you… I mean, didn't you read it?"

"What text message?"

'_Yes, about what text message she is talking about?'_ I couldn't fully grasp her intention.

"Is your mobile phone broken or something like that? Why else wouldn't you check it when I sent it to you, then?"

It was then when it struck me that I didn't look at my cell phone since Shizuru re-entered my life yesterday. With a quick grab in the backpack Shizuru and I put our clothes in, I took my phone in my right hand, snapped in open and started to go through the bunch of unread messages. One of them brought some light in the dark I was currently standing in.

_Date: August 15th  
__Text message from: Mai Yuuichi  
__Hey Natsuki!  
__Happy birthday! I'm sorry that we cannot celebrate it  
__today at my place, but the Suzushiro's and the Kikukawa's  
__came to a business agreement last week and wished  
__to celebrate the occasion.  
__Therefore, could we catch up on it tomorrow evening around  
__7.30 p.m.?__PS: I have a surprise for you, too!_

_Stay tuned!_

_Mai!_

"Oh" was my response, my head still spinning. But she was right, yesterday was indeed my birthday and we always celebrated it here at her place with everyone around. With Shizuru by my side I forgot about everything else. Now I was in Mai's office, still trying to comprehend my 'luck' to be here on time.

However, this was much worse than I could have ever anticipated! Not only I was here in my school uniform – currently still partially under my biking suit – but everyone else was here, too! Mai, Tate, Takumi and Akira I had expected, but now there were also Yukino, Haruka, Chie, Aoi, Midori, Mikoto, Reito, Kazu, Akane, Shiho, Yukariko, Takeda… and Nao!

'_This is bad… this is really bad! What should I-'_

I flinched when Mai spoke to me once more.

"Natsuki? You look… so pale? More than usual, I mean… is something wrong?" It seemed that she was really concerned for me, what meant that I really had to look bad.

"I- it's nothing… really…" I tried to downplay the matter.

"Then… why did you come to me in the first place, if you had forgotten the party and have no problems to speak about?"

'_Shit, she got me.'_

"Well, you see… Mai, erm…" I began stuttering, not improving my position in the slightest.

"You are… blushing?!" Now she was shocked and pale in her pace. Her hands landed roughly on my shoulders, shaking me lightly forth and back, her intense gaze lingering on me. "Are you finally in love?"

'_Bull's-eye…'_

Needless to say that I blushed so hard that it felt as if my body heat was enough to melt the ground to a degree which I could use to sink into it – I would have welcomed it.

"Congratulations!"

With this I found myself in a bone-crushing hug. It felt different from what I experienced over the last two days… it wasn't as warm as _'her'_ hug, not as loving as _'her'_ touch… I already missed her.

"Love struck the Ice Queen of Fuuka! What a day! So, tell me… who is the lucky guy who melted your heart?" Her amethyst eyes looked upon me full of expectation on my answer to her barrage of questions that would follow from now on. "Are you on a date with him just now? Wait! Let us celebrate this event, too! I will arrange two seats for both of you – and we all want to see at least one kiss! You hear me? At least one kiss!"

"Mai…" I whimpered, nearly exploding from embarrassment. At least I was able to avoid her gaze by staring sideways at the suddenly very interesting carpet.

"Did you kiss him yet? Or no, wait, did _he_ kiss _you_?" Apparently she forgot to stop shaking me. "And how long do you know each other? Was it love on first sight?"

"Mai…" I said once more, trying to bring her back and out of her state.

"Do I know him? I'm sure he is handso- what?" she stopped, finally letting me come to word.

"Mai… can we change here into something more… appropriate?" I asked, never minding the fact that at my age a school uniform was all, but definitely not 'appropriate'.

"We? You mean… ah, yes! Of course, sorry! You mean you and him… speaking of, where is he?"

"Shizuru is parking our bike at your backyard."

Silence.

I answered it with silence.

Still silence.

So my response was a bit more silence.

"W- what?" was all Mai could stammer after a long awkward silence.

"She will be back soon and we need a room where we can change. Is that okay with you?"

"Wait a minute… Kaichou-san is your _date_?!"

"She isn't kaichou anymore, you know?"

"So you don't… erm, object to my… eh, implication of a… a date…?" she whispered bemused.

My cheeks answered her question by getting even a darker shade of red. It was better that I said nothing; I feared that otherwise I would only embarrass myself further.

"O- Oh, wow, I expected much, but… I didn't… know that you swing erm… that way, Natsuki. Who would have guessed, hm?" A baffled Mai was surely a sight to behold. As a manager of a well going restaurant you got to see things you never were able to even remotely imagine before. Of course, I was not the first girl in love with another girl, Mai saw these couples many times over and over again. The reason behind her reaction was that it was me who was involved in that kind of relationship. Me, Kuga Natsuki, the infamous cold-hearted Ice Queen of Fuuka, the well known rude biker girl, the individual who was shy and timid at these things.

I coughed slightly to gain her attention, before I directed my question at her once more.

"So, can we… change here, then?"

"Ah! Y- Yeah, yes, sure, you… eh, you can, I suppose. But it's a pity, though."

"What?" I asked, blinking in surprise.

"The fact that you won't experience the pleasure of carrying out and raising your own child. But I'm happy for the two of you. After this long time of separation, I'm glad you still made it." With this she hugged me again, though not as hard as the first time.

"Thanks, I guess." _'Damn blush, go away!'_

"You can tell me the details later, okay? Now you should go and bring Fujino-san with you. I suppose she doesn't know the way, right?" she cheerfully suggested. She was right, so I showed her my agreement with a curt nod and left her office. As soon as I reached the entrance area, I leaned against the wall and waited for Shizuru to arrive. We were only a few minutes out of sight and I already started to miss her really bad. I needed her and if I weren't sure that she would arrive by any minute now, I would run for her as if my life depended upon it.

_'Maybe I should really look where she is… I hope she didn't get lost. No, this is a straight road; there's no way that she wouldn't be able find the way.'_

With this I waited for her to return to me. I never realized how cold a day could get without my girlfriend to take away this coldness from me with a loving hug and a tender kiss.

* * *

It was as Natsuki has described it. It was no surprise that I found the backyard of Mai's apartment, where I could park Natsuki's bike. I closed the gate and hurried up to reach my Natsuki, whom I already missed very much. I didn't care if it was appropriate or not for a lady to run, but I did all to shorten the time without the one I held so dearly in my heart.

After running for a few minutes, I got a glimpse of a beautiful young lady who was leaned against the wall of a restaurant. Her hair was a mixture of dark azure and midnight-black, her eyes were the most intense shade of emerald-green and her skin was of the purest white. My whole existence wanted to worship her just here and right now, but that would surely cause a commotion, so I put the thought aside on my to-do-list.

But there was something unpleasant to notice, too. It's said that with enough training and self-awareness a person is able to form something commonly known as 'sixth sense', a light sensation around the area of your back of the head and the neck whenever something wasn't quite right. After years of intense training sessions, I was confident concerning the reliability of this sixth sense of mine. Needless to say that I wouldn't raise this topic in my head if it wasn't for my sense to tell me that sooner or later something was going to happen. It was sort of a premonition, so to speak. And it was definitely not good for it to come to live now.

I lowered my speed and took in every bit of information with my eyes I was able to. There were a lot of people, but at this time it wasn't out of place for Fuuka downtown. Most of the lights in the surrounding buildings were lit and it would take too much time to take a better look at each of them, but at first sight I would say that everything was alright there, too.

'_The people, then?'_

My eyes roughly ran over the crowd around me to find every anomaly or strange occurrence. Maybe someone who wanted to harm me? Someone who just took an interest in my body and made his plans to do, well… 'things' with me? Or was it a warning that something was about to happen to my Natsuki?

'_Please, kami, not my Natsuki…'_

A quick look at the waiting figure relieved me from my fear, however. She was alright, still standing there and waiting for me to arrive. Apparently she was lost in thoughts, so she didn't take notice of me as of yet. That gave me the needed time to scan the area for the cause of my uneasiness further.

After checking it out once again, no of the people seemed to be suspicious in any way, leaving me a little bewildered.

I wanted to move on when it finally hit me: one of the cars parked at the side of the road was from Kyoto! The license plate gave it away and my eyes subconsciously took a glimpse of that. The car itself was empty, so there was no reason for me to stay at edge.

_'Ara, I didn't think that the mere unconscious thought of Kyoto could upset me this much.'_

With a sigh I pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes for a moment to gather my thoughts and take in a deep and steadying breath. It was my first date and on top of that it was with Natsuki – no, with my Natsuki. There was no way that I would let something trivial like a licence plate from Kyoto disturb the peacefulness of my date in any way.

Once broadly relieved of my sudden stress, a small smile found its way to my lips. My eyes wandered to my girlfriend again, causing my heart to skip a beat at the mere sight of this celestial beauty. She loved me and that was more than I deserved. Back then, during the HiME festival, I violated her, I abused her trust, and yet she still loved me. She surely was a fine girl and I would do everything to protect her.

Finally, her beautiful green eyes were directed at me and soon my knees nearly gave in to her charm. Her cheeks were tainted with a light trace of red as she waved at me timidly.

'_Kawaii!'_

I sped up and practically bounced at her, slinging my arms around my beloved and nestled my head in the crook of her neck.

'_Mhh, so soft… and this fragrant smell.'_

All strength left me when I leaned my body against hers, shutting my eyes and revelling in this serene moment. It was only when she coughed slightly that I realized us still standing in public. Not that I had a problem with showing my affection to my sweetheart openly, but her blush indicated that for her this wasn't the case yet. Thus, I let go of her involuntarily.

"I missed you, Natsuki."

With a sound somewhere between a grunt, a huff and a snort she turned her head away, while her blush deepened this much that I feared the next moment steam would rise from her head.

"Let's go in, they are awaiting us." she mumbled. Something was fishy, I decided. She was avoiding looking me into my eyes, something she normally wouldn't do unless there was a good reason behind it. I was willed to find this reason out.

She went ahead and I followed her into the establishment. People were staring at us, but who could blame them for this? This was an upscale restaurant, after all, and two girls in biker suits – however beautiful they were – didn't belong in such a place. Well, two girls who were hugging each other intimately at the entrance, to be honest.

Without a word spoken, Natsuki lead me to an office, which was nicely decorated. The name plate on the door gave it away that this was Yuuichi Mai's office, so I hadn't had to guess whom it might've belonged to.

It had a wooden wall covering, a massive oaken desk and a burgundy-red carpet. These were the details I took in as a first impression upon entering the room. Of course, there were rather more than less plants, some nice pictures and paintings, even a small sculpture, some chairs and so on, but as I said, these were details, after all.

"It seems that Mai's efforts really paid off in the end." I couldn't resist the urge to express how I felt about this place. It was fascinating what Mai was able to achieve in this short amount of time.

"Hey, that's unfair! I have achieved something impressive, too!" Her pout was really cute!

"Ara, of course it is. But I never thought of Mai to be able to come this far."

"Well, you have a point there, though she showed us back then what she was able to reach when she was determined to do it." Natsuki explained, while she began to unzip her suit. It was a breathtaking magnificent view and it didn't matter to me that I came to see her naked earlier this day.

It took me all willpower to break free from my reverie, so that I also could begin to change into my uniform. At least it doesn't attract as much attention as a tight body fitting leather biking suit on a young girl's body, though the – due to our growth even more so – short skirt seems to try everything to rival the body suit's attention attracting ability. Whatever, with Mai and Tate as the only exceptions there will be nobody who knows us, so this will be no problem after all. Speaking… erm, thinking of Mai… she had real management skills there. To manage a business like this was by no means easy.

"I doubt I would be able to build up something like this from scratch out of nothing."

"Huh?" She turned her head and looked at me questioningly.

"It's nothing, I was only thinking aloud."

It was a mistake for both of us to look at each other at this moment, since all we were wearing didn't involve more than skimpy underwear, our knee length socks and the hair clips which were holding our hair during the extended ride.

The normal thing was that Natsuki blushed. The abnormal thing was that I blushed, too! I had to resist the sudden urge to cover my body. After a few moments of awkward silence, both of us grinned and the atmosphere became comfortable once again.

Instead of returning to my task at hand, I didn't continue in dressing, but went slowly in Natsuki's direction, making her wince like a lost puppy when she finally realized my true intention.

'_Oh Natsuki, do you know how hard it is to resist you? I need… release… now!'_

How funny that despite her occasional winces, flinches, attempts of excuses or small words of protest, she never resisted me when I was doing to her what I came to enjoy since today morning. No, the opposite was quite the case.

As expected, Natsuki enjoyed my silent ministrations without further objections. It didn't help me to stop that I was addicted to the exquisite taste of her wet folds in-between her also wet tights! In addition, it surely would not hold me back that her hands were roughly pressing my head further to her core, doing nothing but preventing me from retreating. Was it really she who called me insatiable around afternoon?

Another moan escaped her sweet mouth, made me make love to her like there was no tomorrow.

* * *

If I were to describe the extent of my patience, I would say that I am a really patient person. And if somebody would ask me about Natsuki and her punctualness, I would answer that – with the sole exception of school – she is a usually reliable person.

Right now, I was tapping impatiently with my foot on the ground, looking every once in a while at my clock to check the time. It was all perfect, the guests arrived early and no one was late. The backroom was fancily arranged, because not only it was one of my closest friend's birthday-party, but also the annual HiME-meeting. Both appointments were pooled together since Kikukawa-san and Suzushiro-san stayed some days in Fuuka due to a business agreement between their family companies, and Natsuki had her birthday yesterday. It was a mere coincidence that Kanzaki-san was around Fuuka, too, so he decided to stay a bit longer to take part on our meeting.

It was a great opportunity, so we moved the usual meeting time from September to August this year.

That said, I got carried away by Natsuki's indirect confession that she was actually dating someone… well, not someone, but Fujino Shizuru for that matter. We all knew more or less about her affection to the normally asexual Natsuki, but both of them went separate ways, not even letting the slightest hint show that there was even something like a remote platonic friendship left.

And now this!

It's a shame that I blighted the slow and relaxed beginning of our party by announcing the arrival of a surprise guest. Now all of them were waiting still and quite for the announced person to show up. Needless to say that the whole room was silent, looking at me with anticipation. The silence eventually grew completely awkward, making me sigh in the end.

"I will go and see where they are. Just a moment, please."

With this, I made a beeline for my study, feeling arise the urge to scold them for delaying their overdue entrance.

When I finally opened the door, I wished I had never opened it in the first place! But it was a little bit soothing for me to know that this moment was surely by far more embarrassing for them than for me.

Well, where to begin… okay, the first thing to notice was that Natsuki was sitting on my desk, facing the door. Directly in front of her, Fujino-san was kneeling with her head partly covered by Natsuki's skirt. Natsuki's legs were slung around Fujino-san's neck and her hands were pressing her girlfriend's face deeper into her womanhood.

_'Note to myself: Don't let Shizuru kiss you on the cheeks in respect of a formal greeting!'_

But that lead me to the next eye-catching thing: They were both wearing their old school uniforms! What. The. Hell!

They had definitely grown out of them! What made them wear these-

'_Some kind of… erm, kinky fetish? Urgs, don't even think about it…'_

When I shamefaced looked to the ground, I instantly wished I had not… hell, I didn't even want to know how Natsuki's panties looked like! Thus, I closed my eyes, started to count down from ten to one and slammed my head out of frustration against the doorframe around seven or eight out of Natsuki's constant moaning and groaning.

This would certainly be one moment in life, which no one of us would ever forget.

* * *

_Kawaii_ – 'Cute' in Japanese

_Sixth sense_ – It is said that ninja once held this kind of skill, what made them this dangerous in the first place. Common people make constant use of this sense in a far less noticeable way. Certainly many of you have already experienced a slight uneasiness when someone observed you… you know, the feeling that 'someone is watching you'. As I said, this sense can be trained to work more reliable. :-)


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**: I am done! I hope you will like it. I have updated the other chapters and corrected the issue with Tate/Yuuichi – thanks again for pointing it out. :-)  
However, my exams are coming up, so it will be a little bit of a problem for me to update soon. Please bear with it and keep in mind that I will finish everyone of my stories for sure.  
P.S.: Almost 9.000 Hits and 77 reviews - everyone, thank you for your support! I promise you that in case I hit the 100 reviews until I'm done with chapter 9, you will get a special M rated chapter. :-D  
(Even if not, I'm sure I will write it, but it wouldn't be anytime soon, though. )

Ah, yes, one thing... I didn't re-read it due to the late hour, but I will make sure to improve the quality of this chapter in the future.

**Di****s****claimer**: Mai HiME / Mai Otome and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

This was gruesome! This was terrible! This was the most awkward moment in my entire life! But as always, my girlfriend, Shizuru, was reliable. She acted not much different from being disturbed during a cooking session or while reading a book.

'_Shit, she didn't even flinch or blush. But I will ask her about it later this evening. But that reminds me of… shit. Okay, limitation of damage!'_

"Err, Shizuru… you should at least… erm, make your hair."

I got carried away upon my crimson-eyed girlfriend's assault. My brain ceased its function and shut down in an instant, reducing me to my most feral instincts of need and greed. Now that my mind started to work properly again, I realized to my utmost horror that this 'party' was going to be the most embarrassing and humiliating event ever, now even more than before.

"Does Natsuki dislike my hair?" she asked in her usual teasing voice. The whole ordeal didn't even affect her in the slightest.

But this was when it hit me square in the face: Shizuru didn't know yet that we weren't supposed to have a dinner for two, but to join the party! I only told her that 'they' were waiting when she got here.

'_Shit, she will kill me for not telling her earlier! But it cannot be helped I guess… it won't be much worse than to be caught by… ugh, Mai… while… doing… 'it'… argh, shit, this is a nightmare! Natsuki, wake up!'_

I took a deep steadying breath, inhaling and exhaling, counting to ten before began to speak concentrated.

"Shizuru, the others will start to ask nasty questions."

It's a shame that I wasn't able to deliver my message in a more direct way, but Shizuru was sharp, so I didn't doubt that she got the meaning right.

And I was right when I saw her eyes widen a fraction and her face turning pale.

"The o- others?"

It was the still red-faced Mai who helped me out with the unpleasant explanation.

"You see, Fujino-san, yesterday was Natsuki's birthday and usually we have a small birthday party for her. However, yesterday the Suzushiro's and Kikukawa's celebrated a business agreement, so I postponed our little gathering. I thought it convenient that Haruka, Yukino and even Reito were here at Fuuka, so I organized the annual HiME meeting to take place today."

"HiME meeting? What is that?" she asked again, now even more confused than before.

"Ah, well, you see…" I started, but fortunately Mai took the lead and explained further.

"These are the annual meetings of the… well, ex-HiME… you were excluded, though, since it was very hard to establish any contact with you as the daughter of a billionaire, not to mention your certainly busy schedule and you being in Kyoto."

'_So Mai don't intend to speak it out loud…'_ I thought before raising my voice again.

"And because… some of us were against it."

Now that I had her full attention, I couldn't stop anymore. But it was important not to have any secrets kept from her anymore. It would take some time to say what I had to say, so it was good that we didn't started walking towards the party room yet. Mai kept her gaze on the ground, thus I had no choice but going further.

"I will explain it to you later. This isn't the time or the place to going deeper into the matter, so please bear with it, okay?"

I hoped that Shizuru wouldn't ask further, for it really wasn't the time to explain it to her. My girlfriend's actions caused a lot of trouble for some people back then and now there are some of them who dislike her for what she did, in one case even for her feelings towards me. At least she knew that I was right, so she only nodded in agreement and tried to comb her hair with her fingers alone – without a mirror, that is.

"Natsuki, same goes for you." the still embarrassed redhead reminded me.

Damn, my legs hade bite-marks, I was covered in sweat, was wearing a slightly too small school uniform, my panties were soaked, my hair was in disorder, my face was flushed and Shizuru was by my side – this is _so_ obvious!

Taking a steadying inhale of air, I kept following Mai, who led us to the party-room. At least it was a private meeting, but still, I didn't doubt that somebody – a certain somebody named Chie Harada – would have a camera to make my humiliation last for all eternity.

When we arrived at the door, Mai – still red-faced and full of shame – cooled her face with a handkerchief, which she used as a fan and to wipe the thin layer of sweat from her forehead.

Shizuru was a bit nervous and cleared her face with the sleeve of her uniform. It was the first time I saw her doing such an ungraceful thing at all, but that reminded me of the awkwardness of the whole situation. My heart kept beating fast and I needed to take another deep inhale of air.

Then Mai mumbled a low-voiced "Alright, here we go…" and eventually opened the door.

This was it… my life would come to an early end…

She entered the room and I heard each and every step of hers echoing loudly on the parquet floor. For a room so full of people it was way to quite.

Shizuru stood behind me as if using my poor abused body as a cover from the inevitable. I didn't want to prolong it anymore, so I followed suit and went straight in. Going by the sound behind me, my sweetheart was right behind me.

My downcast eyes went slightly up to take in the scenery. It was a rather large room commonly used for banquets with many participating people. Alongside the walls there were standing tables, but except for the white and clean laced table-cloth and a vase with some flowers on top of each, they weren't used at the moment. The center of the room was free, for it provided the needed space for different kinds of shows, enough room to dance or for standing around and making acquaintances.

However, one table was neatly arranged with more flowers, food – to my dismay no mayo, not that I cared right that moment – of course the best dished Mai had and the silver cutlery. Sitting around the table were all people I listed earlier in my mind: Of course Mai and Yuuichi as well as Takumi and Akira, then the inseparable duo Yukino and Haruka, Chie and her satellite Aoi, the probably already drunk Midori, the feral kid Mikoto and her smug slime-bag brother Reito, the somewhat strange Kazu and his giddy girlfriend Akane, Yukariko without her family, the already mischievous grinning Nao, a sulking Shiho and Masashi Takeda, whose advances will come to an end tonight.

They were indeed all here, however, their faces didn't give away any emotions except surprise… and puzzlement maybe... and epicaricacy in Nao's case, of course.

'_Oh, yeah… the school uniforms… how could I ever forget this...'_

I felt my cheeks burn my face and I closed my eyes so that I could forget that I was 'enjoying' everyone's undivided attention.

'_This has to be a nightmare – Wake up! Damn it, wake up!'_

Mai's voice made it clear that I didn't dream, though.

"We are complete, then. Natsuki, Fujino-san… I prepared a place for both of you there."

With this she pointed to a pair of vacant chairs on the left side, right between Kazu and… I'm sure he bribed someone to sit there! Just like last time… TAKEDA!

But unfortunately, my anger didn't even last a mere second for the still lingering embarrassment was this overwhelming.

It still was very quiet and I wanted to take my seat on the side of this jerk, for I didn't want Shizuru to have to bear this burden. However, I never came in reach of my chair when I felt the sensation of slender fingers being laid on my left shoulder. I turned my head and saw a pair of beautiful crimson-red eyes staring intently back. With a soft shake of her head she motioned that she wanted me to sit on the other chair, thus I did as she wished. Needless to say that Takeda's face visibly paled. Did I forget to mention that he was told about the carnival?

Mai sat down at Yuuichi's side and then…

…nothing.

We stared at each other in deafening silence. No one dared to break through the build up tension.

Well, Chie made the beginning.

"Fujino-san… it's nice to see you again."

She winced when everyone's eyes and attention went straight to her place. Even Aoi faltered under such an oppressing observance, although it was her girlfriend who got those looks.

"Ara, it was quite a surprise when I learned about this little arrangement. Isn't that right, Natsuki?" Shizuru tried to break the ice. It wasn't a bad thing to do considering that by making the first step you could take a strong influence on which topic was discussed.

'_But why in the world did she pass the attention on me?!'_

"A- Ah, it is." I stammered, feeling the gazes piercing holes in my almost trembling body.

'_Okay, I see why she did it. My turn then.'_

"Don't you think too, Mai?" The redhead practically jumped in her seat, regarded me with a puzzled look and when comprehension finally hit her, an unpleasant one. Those eyes lingered on her now and I was…

'_Save.'_

"Y- Yeah, sure. Isn't it, Kanzaki-san?" She passed it on to Reito.

'_Nice one. Reito will handle it.'_

"Ah, that's right."

And then… again nothing. Damn, he killed our conversation! Okay, not really, but still… he killed it and now all of them were staring at me and Shizuru again!

"Stop staring at me like that!" I cried out in annoyance. Enough was enough, you know?

But they made sure I would regret my little outburst. Shiho began.

"Why are you wearing your old school uniforms? Why is your face this red and what are those red marks on your legs?"

A wise man, whose name I don't know, once said: If you had resisted the urge to open your mouth, the others wouldn't had to learn just how stupid you really were. I heeded his advice, though, and didn't reply Shiho. No answer was better than to humiliate myself further.

But this kid couldn't stop and I felt the stares pressing me in the back of the chair.

"You look like you had sex with Fujino-san."

The last thing I could hear was everyone gasping in surprise for Shiho being this direct, but then the rush of blood blocked out every external sensation. This was the first time I was thankful for my habit of blushing hard.

* * *

That was a close one. It was far too close. I almost hadn't had enough time to hide. Why did she stop out of a sudden? Did she await us? Was she warned? If it weren't for me having a good hiding spot in this car, she would have definitely seen me.

But now I have something interesting to tell the boss. I saw her being intimate with a hot chick before they went straight in this fancy eatery.

"'Dancing Flame', huh? I bet they have strippers in there… fuck; the boss could pay me better. At this rate I will never make it in one of those things."

I snorted and lit another cigarette. The coming night was long, but at least we now knew that our target was indeed in Fuuka. With this we would capture her, bring her back and get the payment of their lifetime.

"At least I can confirm the rumors calling the little princess a 'dyke'."

* * *

While Natsuki's radiating heat threatened to burn a whole in the wooden ground, I give it a try and attempted to defuse the situation.

"Ara, Munataka-san, isn't it rather rude to ask such a personal question?"

"Whatever, but you don't deny it, huh?" she asked. I could see that she was used to being underestimated, but I wouldn't make this mistake. She was beyond her years, but still something I could handle without further problems.

"However, I also don't admit it. Thus, we are even." I responded, still smiling my calm kaichou-smile.

"The evidence doesn't cover your view, though." Shiho shot back, a grin on her lips. I would enjoy wiping it off of her face.

"I wanted to surprise all of you with my nostalgic outfit and Natsuki went conform to my train of thoughts. Your 'evidence' is thin and based on mere speculation, Munataka-san." I knew that they didn't know that I didn't know that this meeting was taking place here and today. If my guess war correct, they had absolutely no idea when I arrived at Fuuka, what our intentions were for this evening and what the status of our relationship was. The girl of my dreams was busy dying from embarrassment, so she wouldn't disturb my discussion with Shiho.

To make a long sentence short, without the tiniest bit of information, every guess she made would eventually lead to a total breakdown of her argumentation. It was okay for a person to make some guesses, to speculate on one or two things, but the more you had to guess, the higher was the risk to make a complete fool out of you. This much she knew, so it was a rather easy win as long as Natsuki kept her…

'_Warm, tender and delicate legs, covered with countless proofs of my love… such a soft and pale skin... mhh'_

It was hard to leave my sudden daydream, but to lose this would mean to confirm their suspicions and that would make them ask many uncomfortable questions. Today wasn't the day to tell them about us.

"And what about those red markings on her legs? And your totally dishevelled hair?" I was sure she only asked the questions everybody in this room was interested in, so dealing with her meant dealing with everyone but Mai, who already knew more than she wanted to know.

"Shiho-san seemed already to have forgotten that Natsuki is a motorcycle mechanic and that we came here by her bike? Nothing is out of the norm, for that matter."

Not that it would explain everything, but she couldn't say anything against it.

"But you are dating each other, huh?" So her questioning got weaker in the end. An easy victory, just as expected. Later I will have to thank Reito-san for not helping her out. In this case it would have gotten hard and tiring.

"So to arrive with someone actually means to date them? I am shocked, Shiho-san." I could even manage a sincere giggle for I found this idea rather amusing.

With a snort the octopus-head didn't let go of it and asked further.

"I mean your matching outfit… the school uniforms."

"Ara, so now it is a matching school uniform that determines your partner? It must be an orgy then at Fuuka Gakuen, don't you think?"

Everyone managed at least a small giggle, a silent laugh or an amused grin… except for Shiho, though. A defeat isn't pleasant, after all.

However, she didn't want to admit that she lost; therefore, she bravely continued her fight.

"That's fine, you hadn't lost your eloquence, but your argumentation has one major flaw. A pity you cannot change it, _Kaichou-sama_."

Her face had the smug expression of someone who had just won a lost cause. Something I overlooked, she said?

"Ara?"

I didn't know what she meant, so I had to go into defence for now.

"Kuga's face speaks volumes, you know?"

I held my breath and I risked a single look in my girlfriend's direction only to have it confirmed what Shiho-san said. Everyone could read her like a book… a book which betrayed everything I just said, that is.

'_I will admit that she almost got me there, but as long as Natsuki and Mai remain silent, I still have a chance. But I have to be careful about what I have to say nex-'_

I didn't come much further when my girl's hand grabbed me by my collar and directed my face right to hers, where she claimed my lips in a wild and demanding kiss. Her tongue slipped into my mouth rather roughly and started a fiery dance with my own, making me close my eyes in joy.

To be honest, I lost my feeling for time for the next thing I remember was that I leant against her right side, her arm draped around my shoulders.

"This shit is embarrassing, so stop beating around the bush, will you? And to everyone: She is my girlfriend and that's it. Now that your curiosity is satisfied, shut up and fetch me some mayo, I'm starving."

'_Ara, so typical of Natsuki. I love her for her boldness, though. Natsuki… I could jump you right now… No! I must… hold… it…'_

And here I thought everyone staring at me was uncomfortable, but leaning on Natsuki, being horny and stuck in a boring meeting at the same time showed me what real torture was like.

Curiosity satisfied, the atmosphere visibly lost its tension and it was now reduced to a normal meeting amongst friends. Not that I saw most of them as my friends, though. However, the surroundings were peaceful and almost pleasant now, hence it was way too easy to overlook the hostility in Suzushiro-san's eyes, the anxiety in Kikukawa-san's face or the disapproving looks in Yukariko-san's expression.

* * *

"Fujino-sama, your guest has arrived."

"I will see him in the salon. Make sure no one will disturb us. You may leave." With a wink of his hand, the man dismissed his butler.

"As you wish, Fujino-sama." The man in his forties took his leave and headed straight to the entrance hall, where said guest waited.

Sajonji Fujino, head of the Fujino-clan, stood before the lit fireplace when the other man entered the room and the double-door clicked shut.

As he stood there motionless, the guest grew impatient and coughed slightly to gain his host's attention, which never came. He decided to open the conversation.

"Fujino-san, it is unusual for you to call for me this late. Did something happen?"

Breaking out from his thoughts, he hid his displeasure with being interrupted behind his motionless face and turned around to greet the man he indeed called for.

Sajonji Fujino took the outstretched hand, shook it and offered its owner a seat. They both sat down and the patriarch came straight to the point.

"Yes, my friend, something has happened. It's my daughter, Shizuru… she accused me of many things, broke up with her fiancée and left the mansion without further notice to hang around some in some... some gay clubs! I already sent some of my trusted employees to bring her back, but nevertheless I will need your help for the time after her safe return."

The other man frowned, collected his thoughts for some moments and looked to his 'friend', before he raised his voice.

"Ah, what for do you need the police exactly, to look for something or to look away?" His mild smile gave away that this wasn't the first time they had a conversation like that.

"Rather straightforward, aren't we? But that's fine." He snorted before he continued. "What I need this time is the latter. There are some things my daughter will accuse me of once she is brought back and an investigation – however unfounded it might prove – will damage the clan's name and the corporation's reputation. I won't allow such a thing."

With an amused laughter the man only shook his head.

"Really, Fujino-san, what do you think the police president can do in case your daughter claims to be held here against her will? And I won't be able to stop the press either once the rumour goes around that you made her 'fiancée' impregnate your daughter for it is commonly known by the ugly name 'rape', do you understand that?"

The man who introduced himself as the police president of Kyoto still chuckled lightly, somewhat bemused by the sudden suggestion his 'friend' made just a moment ago.

"And this is why you are here, Inokuma-san. I am in need of a solution that will produce an heir to the clan's main branch without damaging our reputation." the head of the Fujino responded in his usual cold and calm demeanour.

"I see. Why not simply adopt one of her cousins or nephews? It would bring the desired result without having the government to cover up something."

"You are right; this is an option I already thought about, but still…"

Inokuma-san started to laugh really hard and needed some minutes to calm down before he could speak again.

"Honestly, Sajonji-kun, you never change. Still the same old sore loser, aren't we? Driven by his daughter to prepare some serious crimes… you raised her too well, my friend."

Although he would never allow himself to admit it, he knew that his childhood-friend hit the mark with his last statement. It was true that he could adopt someone of the same blood from a branch of the Fujino family into the main family to secure its future, but still… he wanted his own flesh and blood in that position and above all, he didn't want to lose to his daughter! He would rather die that indulging it!

"Hmpf." was his answer for he knew that Inokuma-san was right.

"Well, maybe I can help you out a little, though. The minister of the interior is my cousin's uncle, so he is a good friend of mine. If you need something from the intelligence service, name it and I will see what I can do."

For the first time in days, Sajonji Fujino uttered something like a smile, though his friend laughed even more upon thinking loud that it must have hurt him to use those facial muscles after years of inactivity. He snorted and his smile vanished, but it still didn't make the police president of Kyoto stop in his laughing. It took him some moments to recollect himself.

"Thank you, Yasuo, for your honesty and your generous offer. There are indeed some things those guys could help me out with."

* * *

_The last part was written in third-person – why?_

Because Shizuru's father is the main villain here, so I will do anything to hide as many of his intentions, thoughts and emotions as I am able to manage. I'm sure some of you would find it interesting to learn how his mind works exactly, but regarding this, I am sorry to have to disappoint you.

_The main question: What happened right after Mai found Shizuru and Natsuki in action?_

Well, who knows? I can guarantee you some hints and flashbacks referring to that situation in further chapters. Until then you have to ask yourself how Shizuru managed to embarrass Mai (!!) to such a degree that she refused to even think about it further.

'_Dancing Flame' an upscale place vs. within Natsuki's price range_ – Earlier Natsuki stated that it wasn't too expensive to eat there, however it is one of the most fancy places around Fuuka. Is Natsuki this rich? The answer is a clear 'no'. You probably remember Mai bringing Natsuki some food in chapter 1? Natsuki and Mai are close friends, so she is getting a discount. Yes, that's the whole secret. :-)

_Kaichou_ – Japanese for 'Student Council President', Shizuru's former title at Fuuka Gakuen

_Fuuka Gakuen_ – Japanese for Academy of Fuuka, the school Natsuki and Shizuru once went to

_Fuuka _– The fictional region (with Fuuka City as its main city) where Mai HiME was taking place

_Natsuki and Mayo_ – For those who aren't enlightened yet: Though they didn't show it in the anime, Natsuki is rather addicted to mayonnaise.

_Masashi Takeda_ – I am trying to go conform to the official storyline as far as possible, which includes the rejection letter from Natsuki for Takeda during the time of the carnival (thanks to Lone Wolf). To clarify it: Since Natsuki didn't get involved in any relationship in this fic, he didn't give up hope and kept making his advances on her.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: Damn, you see… well… I'm sorry for the… delay is the wrong word here, for it is a great understatement. The reason behind this is a rather hard time I had over the past few months. I was occupied with my internship, several exams and other things regarding the coming end of my studies as well as some preparations regarding my future. After most of this was finished, however, I got – to my own dismay – lazy and lacked the right inspiration to end this chapter.

Originally, I had planned to extend ShizNat's time at the party, playing around games… my thoughts went from Kendo, then to a drinking game and in the end to a card game, blackjack or poker maybe. Though I didn't discard the already written scenes, I decided not to include them in 'Overcome Destiny', for they didn't were 'right' in my opinion. You may still read them in another story of mine in the future, though, so don't be disappointed. :-)

Another issue plaguing my mind is the quality of my work. I had always the intention of providing a quality you could call 'good' and I am well aware that my overall writing isn't this bad, but every time I read stories written by great writers like ethnewinter, Leebot, Lestaki, Dr-Lemona or several others (see my favourite authors list ) I feel like falling down on my knees, worshipping them for their greatness and refusing to ever write something on my own ever again, for I can clearly see a level of quality worlds apart from my own. I simply lack everything or at least many qualities it takes to even write remotely on such a high level, now as well as in the future.

I came to think about that when I promised all of you an M-rated chapter in the future. It is a great challenge to reach someone's mind and/or heart with mere words and I fear I am simply not good enough to do so. Although I plan on at least trying, I cannot make a promise that I will succeed at it.

It's not that I consider myself a bad writer, though. I know that I am around average at best, however, and that I am somewhat stuck there, since english simply is the third language I learned. It is hard to achieve a certain level of understanding of a language you didn't grow up with. It would be nice to hear your opinion on that one, since the subjective value of quality is what the reader/reviewer decides in the end. I am in no position here to determine where I am standing right now, so please, be kind and tell me what you think about it. ;-)

And the last thing… well, nearly 11k hits and 90 reviews in 8 chapters – honestly, I am deeply thankful for your constant support. As I said in the past, I will finish this story no matter what, even if it takes my whole life to do so! I sometimes wonder what I would do if I were to lose my eyesight, since this would clearly rob me of the option to finish what I had begun. Nevertheless, as long as I can see (literally) what I am writing and am able to publish it on , there is no need to fall into a pessimistic way of thinking, right?

But I said enough, so please, enjoy this chapter and tell me your opinion on it. :-)

**Di****claimer**: Mai HiME / Mai Otome and its Characters do not belong to me. All this stuff belongs to Sunrise.

* * *

_Chapter 9_

"So then Mikoto and I went to the park and believe it or not, the dogs all were after her!" Mai's voice rang through the room, her story making everybody laugh. It got only odd whenever her eyes fell upon me or Shizuru, for then Mai would blush forcefully and start to stutter. Of course it was very suspicious, since it was as if we shared a secret embarrassing enough to make us openly deny its very existence. Even I couldn't stop myself from getting reddened cheeks whenever I saw Mai in this state, for it remembered me of what happened not so long ago.

'_Mai caught us in the act… shit…__ at least it wasn't Nao, but still, I will never ever forget this… what a pity she won't either.'_

* * *

_Mai's office – three hours ago – 7.27 p.m._

* * *

'Na- Natsuki?! What… hell, don't tell me you… no way!'

"Eh?! Wha- Mai?!"

There she stood, Mai, in the door, looking wide-eyed upon the scene unfolded. The shock was written all over her face.

'_Shit! I- Stop! STOP! No-'_

It was too late, however, and I couldn't suppress the moan Shizuru's tongue elicited. It felt as if my body was on fire – burning from shame, I mean. Did Shizuru hear Mai or not? I don't know. In any case, she continued her wicked and pleasant as well as pleasing work and that worsened my situation further. Not that it was any funnier for Mai to see us doing… this and that… on top of her office desk… in the office where she works ever so often…

* * *

_Backroom at the 'dancing flame' – present – 11.20 p.m._

* * *

'_No! Don't think about that!'_

I seized the nearest bottle full of wine and drowned my earlier thoughts with several strong gulps - again, to tell the truth. Shizuru was able to turn the tables and making Mai wish to disappear the second she entered her own office, though it did nothing to relieve me from the humiliation I felt.

'_Another one…'_

The initial feeling of shame drowned in wine, this time I went with refilling my glass, only to make it empty again several moments later. It couldn't be helped, after all.

I felt Shizuru eying me with concern every time I emptied the content of my glass, but that couldn't be helped either. It wasn't my fault that I couldn't handle the past experience in such a careless fashion, not that it would change the situation if I get drunk, though. However, it was enough for me to forget it long enough to sleep at least one night over it and that was already something I could look forward to.

'_And one more down…'_

"Ara, Natsuki shouldn't drink this much." She finally interjected.

"Why?" I asked her dumbstruck, not able to form coherent thought anymore.

"Because I have no desire to see the things you ate today later in the evening again." There was no humour in her eyes, even if her choice of words caused some occasional giggle all over the table.

"Hrmpf…" was my response then, giving away much more about my current condition than my calm outer façade. Not that my whole appearance showed how much drunk I really was, but my gestures and intonation was enough for Shizuru to tell the exact state I was in.

"No means no, Natsuki." With that she snatched the nearly emptied bottle away from me, thus making me grunt in disagreement.

"If I may say so, you sure are whipped, Kuga-san."

'_Fuck you, Reito.'_ After bringing my simple thought to an end, realization hit me and the next thought formed immediately. _'Am I really whipped after only one single day?'_

My actions matched my state, so I turned my head to look at my girlfriend. After several long seconds, I asked her straight forward.

"Shizuru… am I… whipped?"

Said girl blinked in confusion, but soon regained her composure. While patting my head, she shook hers to tell me that it wasn't as Reito said it was. Happy about it I reached out to grab the bottle only to feel my girl's hand around me wrist, pulling my hand effortlessly in the opposite direction of the object I tried to get.

"No, Natsuki, you will not drink anymore tonight. And clean your face, Natsuki. Here, let me…" she took out a handkerchief and wiped my face clean. Luckily I didn't see the great number of arched brows nor heard I the snickers and giggles from my so-called friends.

"B- but Shizuru, I'm not a child anymore…" I whimpered, not able to resist my charming partner.

When finished, she put the handkerchief back and patted my head once more, what caused me to smile sweetly at her. I never knew that she could reduce me to a little puppy without putting much work into it.

"Fujino-san, where is Natsuki and who is this person who looks like the cold prude girl we all used to know?" It was Yuuichi who dared to ask such a question. Well, not that I cared right at this moment, for it was really inconvenient for me to throw something in his direction or to kill him off.

'_Shizuru will defend my pride. She is my girlfriend, after all!'_

I leaned toward her and slung an arm around her waist, hoping that she would do something against the mean things people started to speak about me.

"Tate-san, Natsuki never was prude or cold, you only didn't see us two interact with each other before."

'_Damn you, Traitor!'_

"So, how is she in bed then, eh?" It was clear that he also drunk more than Mai would have allowed him to if it wasn't for her to be still traumatized from what happened in her office earlier this evening.

But thanks to the alcohol and my face now hidden somewhere in Shizuru's lap – being drunk made this awkward sitting position much less painful – I wasn't able to blush properly, so I kept my head down. Maybe they would let go of me. Yes, that sounded like a good strategy.

"Take a guess, Yuuichi-kun." Shizuru only laughed full of amusement. Attack is the best defence. Given the current situation, one could say that this proverb was her life motto.

"Huh, I bet she is all nervous and stiff if it comes to sex… and she has most likely the submissive part, but her blush is cute, though."

"Don't speak like that about Natsuki-chan!" the drunken Takeda intervened, earning a sharp glare from Shizuru for using my first name, with a 'chan' on top of that! He flinched immediately, of course. I had to hold back my grin and snuggled a little bit more with Shizuru's side, effectively calming her down.

"C'mon, I only said-" Yuuichi began, but was interrupted by Mai, who laid a rather hard grip on his shoulder. Her glare silenced him in an instant.

With that the discussion died down and my eyes shut close. The next thing I remember was Shizuru waking me and leading me into Mai's office, where we changed back to our biker suits… well, she changed me, since the world was spinning around me and I couldn't properly stand without her help or the help of the wall for that matter.

In the end it was an uneventful evening, though Shiho and some of the others undertook some occasional efforts to find out about the deeper nature of our relationship. I fear I told them everything, even though I didn't even utter a single word in the whole process. I have no idea if it was a good choice to drown my embarrassment with a huge load of alcohol, but the more I drank the less I cared. Well, I never was someone to get a total blackout when totally drunk, however, without my girlfriend's help I wouldn't have made it even out of Mai's restaurant, much less so to our bike, which was still parked somewhere at the backyard of my friend's apartment. At least Shizuru didn't drink anything, otherwise the way back home would be a total pain in the ass.

Leaning at Shizuru and kissing each other on our way every then and when, we finally reached our destination. Without further ado she helped me with my helmet and getting on the bike. All I had to do now was holding onto her and to be honest, there was nothing I would have liked to do more than that. The roaring engine shook me out of my pleasant fantasies about what I would do with her during the night time, in the morning or around midday.

'_Heck, am I that clingy already?__ Get a grip on yourself, Natsuki!'_

With a long sigh I decided that it didn't matter, even if it was for me to be clingy and addicted to her. If it was with Shizuru, it was okay. I only hoped she took it easy when I began to grope her breasts during our ride, but I took it as a good sign that she didn't complain, although it shouldn't had left much effect on her for she was wearing her leather-made biker suit. I knew from earlier experience that it made the body much less sensitive to any outside influence… outside influence like Shizuru's hands exploring your body, for example. On second thought, however, I would like to forget the occasional accident I nearly caused whenever her hands started to wander around.

At last, I couldn't say when I stopped groping her with my unusual boldness, for all I remember is being carried up the stairs leading to my apartment – bridal style! Not that it bothered me at this time for that matter, since my embarrassment was temporarily killed somewhere between the second and the third bottle of alcohol earlier this evening.

Thus I had no idea when she took off my clothes, laid me down on my bed or when I fell asleep, getting lost in countless weird and crazy fantasies my mind chose to torture me with for poisoning my body with this much alcoholic stuff.

* * *

_Natsuki's apartment – present – around 9 a.m. on the next day_

* * *

"Ah, my head…" she groaned, loudly announcing her awakening. "It's killing me… shit, that hurts!"

I heard her swearing, but decided to say nothing for it was to be expected after what she drunk last night. It's really a shame that our plans to spend an evening with a romantic dinner for two were for naught. With a sigh I returned to my current task, making breakfast, that is. Although I had only very little experience in cooking or other practical things, I still was urged to develop these skills as well as martial arts, Naginata-jutsu, how to run a worldwide business or mastering several important languages. I hadn't had any practise in cooking for a whole time now, since compared to all the other tasks I was given it didn't hold great significance. Even so, I managed to create a fine breakfast menu for two, now all that was left was bringing a grouchy Natsuki to join me.

I only hoped she would like a traditional breakfast. To be honest, I had absolutely no idea what she usually had or even if she ate anything at all in the morning.

Eventually her swearing stopped for a while, so I assumed she found the aspirin and the glass of water. I put the last dishes on the tray and took it to the table in our – no, her – small dining room. With a soundless sigh I pulled out a chair and sat down, chastising myself for getting ahead of me. I must not forget that my presence was still only tolerated at best, even limited in its time. Certainly, it was great that the target of all my affections returned my feelings. However, I wasn't in the position to ask her if I could stay with her for a while, for I knew that it would do nothing but endanger her well-being. Naivety isn't a trait I was cursed with, so I never let my guard down.

Or did they really think I didn't already notice the people following us? I counted at least two of them, one in front of the garage on the other side of the street yesterday evening and the other one at Mai's restaurant, who seemed to assume that like Natsuki I also was drunk, what lead him to let _his_ guard down. It was hard not to notice him. That explained the car with the licence plate of Kyoto as well as my instincts warning me of an incoming danger.

Anyway, I visually knew both of them… they were part of the bunch of thugs the right hand of Otou-san, Sergay Wáng, often used for his dirty work. I didn't see him yet, but I knew he was somewhere around, so I was sure that there were at least three of them here in Fuuka, including Wáng-san I mean.

Going by what I knew about Otou-san and his usual way of handling such a crisis – his only heir leaving and not planning to come back is to be called a crisis – he would send some people to observe me, maybe even trying to capture me, though I had the means to defend myself while they were probably prohibited from hurting me. Either way, he would have at least some kind of backup plan or greater scheme in the long run. But it was a disadvantage that Otou-san knew me and my personality very well… he probably was sharp enough to assume that I wouldn't hesitate to go to great lengths for the sake of Natsuki without regretting it.

It was something like a taboo to speak about it, so Natsuki and I never mentioned the carnival whenever we were speaking with each other. We especially never ever talked about what happened at that time. Therefore, my girlfriend – at least that I could call her, for it was the very truth – still wasn't aware of the current state of my mind, that I had no regrets while thinking back on the many deaths I once had caused.

Yes, at this moment I truly considered '_disposing_' of our unbidden followers. My initial idea was something like leading them into an empty alley, ambush them and breaking their necks before they had a chance to even utter a single word. I, Shizuru Fujino, had no problem with maintaining my peace and togetherness with Natsuki by plastering the way to reach it with the corpses of those who dared to disturb this tranquillity. Knowing my father well, he would even buy the prime minister to subdue even the smallest of rumours, so in any case I could be sure of being left alone by the police. Murder was a heavy crime, the rate of detection was somewhere around 99.9, and so under common circumstances there would be no way to avoid getting caught and sentenced to prison for a long time.

What was the worth of a man? How much value did a life hold? For me the answers to those questions weren't relevant enough to even remotely finding an answer to them at all. The more I thought about it, the more promising the prospect of obtaining a peaceful life with Natsuki by violence was getting. But still, I knew Otou-san and therefore I was sure he would find some way to exploit my one and only weakness, to blackmail me until I gave in to his demands to ensure that what was dear to me stayed unharmed. Natsuki, to be precise.

He didn't value his employees' life, so he didn't value the life of a stranger. He didn't value Natsuki's life, that is. But there was also something _I_ didn't value… I mean a life without Natsuki. Is it madness to know what would happen if she ever got killed? Would they call my psychotic for planning a happy killing spree in case I lost my dearest one? Although I strongly reject the idea of a massacre to be happy, I can still feel the strong sense of satisfaction pulsing through my veins… I simply cannot bring myself to deny the great deal of happiness coursing through my body when I left behind tattered and bloody corpses on my way to conquer Natsuki's heart back then when I annihilated the First District. I know for sure that I would kill Otou-san with a sincere smile on my lips, probably the first and last after he blew out the only light capable of oppressing the deep darkness within my soul.

With a start I realized that I was standing at the window, searching for the guy who was observing us the day before. He wasn't there, but even so… again my body acted on its own and I came to my senses far too late. It was… quite disturbing to know that I could go and kill a human being with a passing usualness not even worth of my full attention. It was even more so disturbing to know that my earlier train of thoughts wasn't entirely my own…

"Shit" I whispered, narrowing my eyes to slits, closing them for a small while. It was not good to give in to her… her, my other side, the dark part of my soul, the sudden mood-swings I lovingly used to call 'my small inner Kiyohime'. It wasn't true of course, for I honestly wasn't schizophrenic for real. But wasn't that prospect even more frightening? To know that the intent to kill was a part of my very soul? To be aware of the occasional urge to run a heavy blade through someone's neck until the severed head fell down on the ground, leaving a beheaded and dead body behind?

Somewhere that was true, such a way to think would be frightening for anyone, although not for me. I was familiar with those thoughts, with a world so rotten and full of intrigues and deceives, where a smile didn't mean anything and wasn't even worth the effort. The likes of Nao were well advised to still fear me, even without the powers I was once provided with as a HiME. I may have lost Kiyohime and the extendable Naginata, but I certainly didn't lose my skills. I still held the knowledge how to kill a person in different ways efficiently.

When I came to me, my right hand rested on a doorknob… the way to leave the apartment. What was it that woke my innermost instincts? What had stirred the sleeping monster awake?

I let my hand fall to my side while I made my way back to the breakfast I prepared. Before I could sit down, however, the sun began to shine upon me, calming me with her warm presence.

"Thanks for the aspirin, Shizuru…" she said, leaning with her elbow on the doorframe and supporting her head with her hand. Her eyes were closed, but my heart started to beat faster and a new sense of warmth radiated within my chest. Needless to say that I significantly relaxed and couldn't suppress the broad smile plastered on my face.

Such was the power my Natsuki held. I loved her with every fiber of my body, I longed for her with every shred of my soul. I loathed everyone and everything who dared to even think of interfering with my feelings. A deep love could turn into possessiveness after not being returned for almost ten years, especially on the second day after the seemingly impossible turned real.

I still smiled at her, the hate within me long forgotten. Her brilliant green eyes opened and connected with mine, casting a weak but nevertheless cute smile on her lips. Then her eyes caught the things I put on the table. Her smile widened and her expression softened even more.

"Rice, some grilled fish, miso soup, tamagoyaki, a couple of nori sheets and nattō, though I don't know if you like the latter." I explained, still smiling at her with the brightest honest smile I had in a very long time.

"Wait a minute, I will get the mayo, okay?" she said, but headed straight for the kitchen without waiting for my response. Now I grinned. My Natsuki was a fast learner… she knew that I would have insulted this terrible white stuff if she were to wait for my answer.

I arranged the dishes, so that we could begin when she was back.

* * *

_Warehouse in the docks – present – 9.15 a.m._

* * *

I put out a cigarette and lit it. Our small meeting was about to begin shortly and I hoped that at least one of them had more luck than me. The dormitories' quality was above average I had to admit, so it would be an option to send Nina there when she would grow old enough. At least my trip there wasn't entirely in vain, but that wasn't the reason I was there for, so I inhaled a last time, then blowing out the smoke, before I started to speak.

"So, has anyone returned with good news?"

"Straight to the point, boss. Whatever… she really is at Kuga's mait… mainet… mente… at Kuga's garage. They went out yesterday and returned late I think." Naoki said. Maybe he was an idiot who couldn't even correctly spell the word 'maintenance', however, this was beside the point. He was there to smash and crash things, not to win a grammar contest or anything like that. "But there is no sign from Hanada, I searched the area, but nothing… maybe he got drunk and slept in…" he added with a small laugh.

I nodded, showing him that I was pleased with his work. My former boss always said that it was important to motivate your employees, so I even forced out a smile and tried to express my gratitude. However, Hanada's absence is rather unsettling, for I know him as one of the more reliable members of our little group. I only hope he didn't overrate his own skills and tried something to gain a little bonus. Now that was something I definitely thought of him to do it.

"Anything else?" I asked slightly impatient. The target was so very close and the boss would also be pleased, even without Hanada… we could earn much money for a job this little… I couldn't await it, to be honest.

"Ah, there is… I've seen her together with a hot black-haired biker-chick in front of a posh-restaurant. I wonder how she got enough cash to go in there or why they hadn't thrown her out… I mean, you can't go there with just a biker suit, right?" Yutaka grumbled, obviously annoyed that he had to observe a restaurant for all day and night. It was boring, after all, and that was exactly the reason why I chose to visit the dormitories. "Shouta followed them to where they had parked their bike and he said they seemed heavily drunk."

Shouta only nodded in agreement.

"So there rumors are true, then? She is really… you know, one of _those_ girls?" Tsuyoshi threw in, frowning in slight confusion.

"It seems so, since they really were intimate, even in public." Yutaka answered the question.

Naoki snorted and grinned as if wisdom had decided to pay him one of those very rare surprise visits. "So that's why the boss' daughter carried the chick home in her arms, they wanted to fuck each others brain out."

"Whatever, I will report the news to the boss and all of you should check your weapons. One never knows when it comes in handy. Any questions?" I effectively ended the discussion, for I know that the boss would rip off my head if even the smallest detail of our current exchange were to come out some day. Maybe she was a lesbian, maybe even a whore with ten or more lovers a day, but she still was a Fujino and that alone was enough to know that I shouldn't make any mistake in dealing with her. The boss probably hated his daughter, but his hate for those who insulted his family surpassed any common measure. It was indeed frightening that I could imagine him killing my with a gun right in his office… creepy that the really dangerous people always were on top of some fancy business while the small ones always took the beating and went to prison – or got killed by their employer.

In any case, unsurprisingly nobody had a question, so I went out of earshot of everyone and took out my mobile phone, dialling the boss' secret number from my mind, for it was to risky to have such a number in my phones' memory.

After a few rings I was greeted with silence. Since I knew that he never began the conservation when called under this number, I initialled the conversation with the usual disguise.

"Here is your delivery service. I call you to inform you about the status of the parcel you ordered."

"So, Mr. Lee, you were able to find the lost parcel?" he answered with a question.

"Yes, Sir. It was exactly as you said, it was somewhere in Fuuka City, a girl came around and took it just yesterday. As far as I can tell, she even opened it, but the contents are still as good as new. Do you want us to bring it to you anyway?"

There was a short pause, indicating that he was thinking about something… most likely something dark and evil, involving dead people, blood and more work for us.

"Mr. Lee, I still wish for the parcel to be delivered, just as scheduled. The item's quality shouldn't have suffered enough from a mere girl to make it useless. And concerning the girl who is currently in possession of said delivery… well, you may proceed as you like, but I don't want her to talk ill of me for taking what is mine by right."

"I fully understand, Sir, and I assure you that we will take care of everything to please you. We will deliver it yet today." I said, hoping that he wouldn't let his foul mood out on me. And I had luck, since he closed the connection with a snort.

"Okay guys, even with Hanada we will end the job. We can search for him when we are finished, but the boss' order has top priority now. Everybody ready?"

No one complained, so we left the warehouse and got into our cars, driving towards our destination. I still didn't know what I would do with that Kuga-girl, though killing her wasn't an option. For Nina I had to stay strong, to stay by her side as a good father. I had to be a good father and not a murderer, to stay that way at any cost.

And there was still the matter that the heir of the Fujino main family wasn't just a pampered little girl, but a full grown woman with far above average skills in fighting with and without weapons. Nothing that some guns and Isamu couldn't handle, though, but even then we had to be careful to not harm her… maybe use that other girl as leverage to achieve our goal?

Lost in thought I noticed too late the cars coming to a stop directly in front of '_Kuga's maintenance_'. Those fools, did they also want to ring the bell and answer the '_who's there_' with '_the_ _evil kidnap commando_'? I slapped my palm in my face, fighting the urge to drown myself in the nearby canal, but what's done is done, so we could as well get out and do our job.

The garage was closed yet, so I assumed that what Shouta said was true: they seemed to have a hangover, so to strike now was our best chance. Even a skilled fighter like Shizuru-sama couldn't overcome our combined efforts.

As we readied our weapons, I had Hiroshi to open the side-door to the garage without letting as much as traces that could lead someone to us. As an engineer he had the right tools and enough experience to act fast, precise and without gathering attention. It was only a matter of not even sixty seconds before we could enter the garage, swarming out in search of the best way to get to the apartment located in the upper floor.

When we found the stairs leading upwards, we rushed silently up. Hiroshi began his work to also open this door without making much noise, so that we could get on them without then putting up resistance.

It took us only about thirty seconds to locate and surround them with Tsuyoshi, Naoki and Shouta each pointing a gun at them. No word was said as both girls – each still holding and sitting at a table while eating what seemed a rather lavish feast of a breakfast – were looking at us rather surprised, though the growing confusion was easy readable on this Kuga-girl's face. On Fujino's face, however, grew something I could describe as… well, the intent to do very nasty things with us. Her eyes resembled her fathers in that aspect.

"You look utterly pissed, Fujino-san." I said, breaking the heavy silence.

"You bet I am, Wáng-san." she replied, her voice as cold as her aura. This would provide an interesting outcome, I dared to predict.

* * *

_miso soup – _A Japanese soup consisting of something called 'dashi' (it gives the soup it's typical 'Japanese' flavour) and 'miso', which consists of fermented rice, barley and/or soybeans. Wikipedia can explain this one further.

_tamagoyaki – _Something similar to an omelette, tasting salty or sweet, depending on how you prepare it.

_nori sheets – _Some kind of edible seaweed, to be precise.

_nattō – _Traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans, often used as part of a traditional breakfast.


	10. Chapter 10

It has been some time, but I wasn't lazy... well, at least not the entire time. :-)

You see, I had many things to take care of, to prepare for my last exams and so on... what I want to say is, that after chapter 9 I started writing the whole story beginning from its end. That's good since you won't have to wait for further updates anymore, for the most parts of the story are already written. The downside is – or was, for that matter – the long wait until I reached from the end to the actual 10th chapter.

Anyway, I still kept reading your reviews and was joyful every time I got a notification about somebody taking 'Overcome Destiny' into their favourites list.

That being said, thanks again for your support! Have fun and enjoy chapter 10! :-)

* * *

_Chapter 10_

"You look utterly pissed, Fujino-san." I said, breaking the heavy silence.

That Kuga-girl tried to say something, but Shizuru-san silenced her quickly by casting her something like an apolitically look, so unlike the hateful gaze she directed at me. Now the black-haired girl was even more confused it seemed, but it was amazing how even an obvious headstrong person could be subdued by the presence of a Fujino. Their aura was really impressive, not that it would hinder me with carrying out my duty, of course. Her father was way more intimidating, that gave me the right motivation to pull through with this.

"You bet I am, Wáng-san." she whispered with enough venom in her voice to wake the desire in me to take a step back. Not that I would give in to that urge, though. I was the captor and she was the hostage, after all. Everything had its natural order. But to know me by name, though we met for the first time?

"So someone like me is known by you? That honours me, you know? But in any case, you probably can imagine why we are here. On behalf of your father, we are here to take you back home to Kyoto, where the head of the clan will judge you for your impudence." My mentor once said it was always a helpful thing to preach something about justice and order or speaking in behalf of very important people. To my surprise, most people backed away and gave in without putting up a fight, for they feared the power that backed up the speaker in the first place. It was a nice experiment to go and actually try this out on someone like her, who was somewhat powerful and important herself.

However, I didn't expect her to put up this arrogant face of hers. At least, it took me by surprise at first. After giving it a second thought, it was only natural that she would make nothing out of my prologue, for she defied her father directly the other day. Her giving in to me could be considered unnatural, looking at it from that perspective.

"And how do you think you can accomplish that task, Wáng-san, without so much as touching or even hurting me? Maybe blackmailing me by pointing a gun at my Natsuki? I wonder…"

So that's how it was. The moment we do something to her companion, she would do something reckless and cause us trouble here and much more the moment we arrived in Kyoto. At least she knew her own value and the consequences for us if we were ever to hurt her. So, unfortunately, she was no fool.

"That is one of the options I considered, but I thought it would prove well to first ask you to come with us without so much as resistance." I would have preferred it to go that way, although it seemed that she was doing everything in her power to escalate this conflict. Not that I minded. Yet we had the upper hand here.

"At least let us finish our breakfast, would you? I put much effort into making it, so please excuse my selfishness and stay put until we are ready." she demanded in the usual commanding tone her father often uses. I would be naïve to believe that she really asked us if we could wait… she made it clear that she wouldn't even consider being cooperative as long as she didn't finish her meal properly. To hell with the upper class and their manners.

But after thinking about it, I decided to comply with a sigh. If she still was able to keep her appetite while surrounded and with guns being pointed at her, she could as well go ahead and eat up. I doubted that two girls could somehow kill us with chopsticks, so there was no harm in it and since we had to go back to Kyoto immediately, we wouldn't have the time eat on our way either. I imagined that she would complain every five minutes that she was hungry, if only to make our ride more strenuous for us. To let her eat would solve at least that minor problem.

So we watched them eating in silence, though this other girl seemed really on the verge of at least trying to kill us with those chopsticks of hers. Going by how she looked, she had a hangover, but her build was rather muscular, so we shouldn't risk anything and keep an eye on her. I had no intention of getting us killed out of underestimating an enemy.

"Shizuru, do you expect me to eat while-" this Kuga-girl started, but was again silenced by a mere look from Fujino-san. With a snort she kept eating in silence.

The silence, however, grew every second and started to get on my nerves. Honestly, looking at two people eating with guns pointed at their faces nagged at my patience, Fujino-san's calmness being a counterpart to my growing restlessness. From the bored looks everyone else had on their face I could tell that they experienced the same thing and the silent tapping of foots against the floor I saw or heard from them made it even worse.

"Aren't you finished yet, girl?" Naoki grunted with impatience. She didn't even made an effort to outwardly look as if she had heard him, much less bothered to give him an answer. With a groan I repeated Naoki's question.

"Aren't you done yet? How long do you plan on eating? And don't tell me you have somewhere a hidden dessert."

"Ara, you have a point there." she said without looking at me. However, she looked up to cast the dark-haired girl a glance. With a smile she continued to speak. "Do my Natsuki want a dessert? I am sure Wáng-san would do me the favour and fetch something for us, provided I asked him nice enough, ne?"

The grip around my gun tightened and with a low growl I wanted to yell at her for her unbelievable ignorance, but her voice cut me short there.

"Just kidding. However, Wáng-san, you should make sure to do something about your choleric personality, for the red shade of anger in your face makes you look even more retarded than usual."

* * *

From the looks of it I could tell that it would require no more than a mere glance at him to make him explode. Well, the following chaos could surely be used to solve my current predicament, however, Natsuki would try to protect me and would only get hurt in the process, thus I had to remain still and wait for my chance.

My natural authority combined with my name and the power I would hold once I returned home gave my wish to finish eating enough weight to be granted, even by those of lower status who had no clear idea of the enormity of consequences that would follow when I was upset by them. _He_ was still my father, after all, and _I_ was still his daughter, even if he was still to reject me out of his homophobia.

The top priority was to bring Natsuki out of danger, then I could take care of those ignorant fools who dared to disturb the first breakfast I ever made for us two. I would make them pay, I would make sure that they never ever dared to bother us again… and on top of that, I would show _him_ that I was willed to fight for the peaceful life I obtained with Natsuki. People say that fighting for peace is a paradox, however, going by my logic you just had to kill everyone opposing you, and then you would create a long lasting peace. This strategy proved successful with the First District and it didn't fail with the HiME-Star either, so why should crushing the enemy not work again?

By the time I went through another two plans with their respective possible outcomes, I realized that Wáng-san was able to contain himself after my insult. At least he had an iron will, for I knew that people like him often found a liking in demonstrating their powers in front of unarmed girls.

It was so tempting, really, and I couldn't fight it. Thus, I finally gave in to another little tease.

"Silent consent, then, Wáng-san?" I asked, not able to contain the broad grin that followed. The likes of him, so pampered in vanity, wouldn't take it easy to be called retarded by a girl now, would they?

"Y- you little… wench!" he spat with venom in his voice, making his point clear. Honestly, it was hard to hold myself back.

"To call the great Shinji Fujino's only daughter and heir to the Fujino business empire a wench… ara, Wáng-san, do you realize that, in case you bring me back and I am to marry someone, I will gain a decent amount of power myself? I wonder what influence that would have on the well-being of Nina-san. That was her name, wasn't it?"

When his face went pale and pure hatred mixed with fear was anything but hidden on his face, I gave him the rest.

"This is a quite troubling situation for you indeed; Otou-san will not be pleased if you fail to bring me back… do you think he eventually will make use of this… leverage in order to discipline you or to ensure your loyalty?"

And my plans unfolded before my very eyes, everything was going as planned. They would regret their intrusion soon enough.

* * *

Shizuru was insane! I mean, she insisted on eating with loaded guns pointed at us and now she was provoking them! Fuck, one could think that our captors were the real hostages, since Shizuru threatened them as if she was in charge… maybe she was, but even then, that was totally unnerving. If she kept going this way, how could she make them go away and never return? They would tie her up, bring her to Kyoto and prevent me from doing anything against it!

Since I learned to trust Shizuru's judgement, however, I held up my façade and forced the food down my throat, suppressing each and every shred of anger for her sake. Anyway, I didn't know what she was up to, but I could see the gleam in her eyes that screamed blood and murder. Even during the carnival I never really was at the receiving end of those glances and stares. The one nearest to come into the pleasure of being stared at with those eyes would be Nao, I think, at their second one-sided encounter and even she didn't get the full load of it.

It was regrettable that we didn't have access to our powers anymore, although there was hardly something we could do with the deadly ends of those guns at point blank. I think part of her explanation was for me, so that I knew nothing would happen to her, since they weren't allowed to hurt her. I honestly had no idea how much her possessive attitude has changed, but I bet nobody could hold her back if I was to be injured, so as long as I didn't do anything suspicious, I – and hence Shizuru – was save from physical harm, for now at least.

Above all, that all really pissed me off! Shizuru put so much work into this breakfast, she extra went to the grocery store this early in the morning to get everything she needed and we were just discussing our plans for the day when those bastards stormed in! If they hadn't had those guns, I could and most definitely would beat them to a pulp, of that I was sure!

I told myself to calm down and begin to analyse the situation. There had to be a weak point, something I could use for our advantage. However, all I could see was a bunch of stinking and somewhat still sleepy guys. It seemed that they had only a little to nothing of sleep at most.

My thoughts were cut short when their leader replied to Shizuru, something calmer than before.

"I must admit, I underestimated your resolve. However, you in turn underestimated me it seems, for you should know that I know your fathers personality quite good. I know his standards, so I am sure he will chose a husband for you who will treat you just the same way your old man is treating your mother. You will never hold enough power to threaten me or my family, kid."

His smug grin refused to vanish from his face and Shizuru's frown indicated that she indeed might have underestimated her opponent. For our own sake, I only hoped she knew what she was doing.

After we finished our meal – and it is still beyond me how we even were able to eat like that! – I sat down my chopsticks. My girlfriend did the same, but soon enough they implied with a nod towards the couch that I was to sit down there. Then their leader went a step to the side to make place for Shizuru to leave.

"Natsuki, is it alright for me to take your clothes like this?" she asked, more worried about that than about her own life.

I only nodded while I sat down. With an affirmative nod she smiled her sweetest smile possible and went ahead, being followed by all of them but the one big and muscular guy, who – surprise – was one of those three who had a gun, which was – lo and behold – still directed at me.

"Keep her here for around two hours, and then come after us using the money I gave you earlier. We will meet at the base. Don't hurt her, but kill her if she tries something funny." the one called Wáng told my 'guard'. With a grunt he made clear he understood, then he said down opposite of me on a chair about three meters away and waited.

"Let's go." he said to the rest of his gang, leaving my apartment at once.

It was frustrating that there wasn't anything I could do! Fuck!

I couldn't do anything! Just sit and wait!

Tears were welling up in my eyes when I had to look at her leaving my apartment in silence, watching her retreating back while being followed by six of her father's henchmen. She was to marry some guy and I lost her – again! Fuck! Shit! I didn't care about my façade anymore as hot tears rolled down my cheeks freely. I clenched my hands to fists and cried in silence, cursing me for being this careless. I should have known that somebody was after her; I should have kept my own gun with me instead of locking it away in my dresser!

Shizuru, I wish I could have at least asked you officially to become my girlfriend… or to ask you officially out on a date...

They said you grasped the worth of something valuable at just the moment you lost it.

Endless trains of thoughts came to my mind, remainders of many missed chances and opportunities in my life. I lived in darkness, then the sun with its warmth came back to me – and now they took her away from me. How was I supposed to live on in the darkness? Now, that I knew how it felt to love and to be loved back, it was impossible!

Trying to fight and getting killed in the process would cause her grief, just like it would kill me on the inside with her losing her life. So I had no other option but to wait for those goddamned two hours to be over and then go after her. I still had Yamada's number, so I would give him every last Yen I had to find a way to free her before one of those filthy-

A gunshot startled me as well as the man opposite me, then another and lastly a third one. I nervously looked at him while he got on his feet and slowly went to the window, with the gun and one eye still directed at me. However, before he even made his second step we heard another two shots being fired in front of my garage. His efforts to see what was happening were futile, though, since the front of the garage wasn't visible from those windows.

"Shit, Shizuru… I don't know what is happening, but you should check on your comrades!" I tried to get rid of him, so I could go and look after Shizuru myself. Hopefully she was only wounded and her life was not in danger, but the pain I felt in my chest made it nearly impossible to breathe properly. I was worried to no end and this shithead still was thinking!

"Damn, I need to see if Shizuru is alright! I will come with you, but please, I need to be there right now!" I gulped down my own pride and begged to go to my girl, to hold her and soothe her and caress her while whispering in her ears that everything was alright.

"You first, and hurry!" he finally said and I run down to the front of the building as fast as I could manage. I didn't care if he was still behind me or not, all I needed now was the confirmation that Shizuru was okay!

The first moment I left the building I couldn't see anything from the intense light that greeted me, about two seconds later a big ungentle hand gripped me at my shoulder and shoved me aside forcefully. With a yelp I fell askew to the ground, blinking repeatedly to adjust my eyes to the light in order to see anything. Going by the deep groaning I heard the guy who was with me had the same problem at least.

From not too far away I could hear some steps, something like a very fast exchange of punches and kicks and then the distinctive sounds of breaking bones before something fell on the ground with a thud.

And when my eyes finally were able to see something, an image of horror rendered me unable to move. The scene unfolding before my very eyes hit me by surprise, reminding me of my own violent past. I would never ever forget what happened here just this moment, caused by my own lovely and gentle, kind and warm girlfriend and lover, Fujino Shizuru.

Two guys were lying motionless in their own blood, one clearly killed with a shot right between the eyes, the other one hit by a bullet in the back of his skull. Their leader, Wáng, was sitting aside on the ground and held a bloody mess of a wound beneath his left shoulder, so I suppose the third shot missed his heart only by a hairbreadth.

Directly in front of her the older man laid on the ground, his head twisted in an abnormal angle.

'_Then the breaking bones… his neck.'_

There were still two guys 'surrounding' her, one of them had a tantō, while the other one was in a typical stance for someone who learned fighting on his own in the streets of the city. Shizuru, however, was in a fighting stance I couldn't recognize, but from what I could grasp it possessed a lethal effectiveness suited for someone like her. What relieved me, despite the gruesome scene I just witnessed, was the fact that Shizuru was unharmed… at least yet!

Acting on instinct, I jumped on my feet and gave the guy on my left a strong kick to the guts, making him loosen his grip around his weapon. Without so much as a struggle I laid my grip around it and jerked it free from his hand, causing a yelp of pain from him in the process. With a fluid motion of my hand I pressed the semiautomatic 9mm handgun at his head, halting his resistance immediately.

"Don't move or you are dead!" I said, falling into my old pattern. It has been some time since I last pointed a gun at a human being. I sincerely hoped that I wouldn't have to do this ever again, but it couldn't be helped right now.

Anyway, it still wasn't a fair fight, though I couldn't do anything to help her without having to immobilize the guy I kept from moving right now. Since it would be a risk to go and try to smack a big and muscular fighter unconscious, I decided to stay put and to intervene only if the need arose. All in all, I also was curious how she would hold her ground against her two opponents, for I have never seen her seriously fighting by using only hand-to-hand combat.

The bald and scarred man lunged forward with one rather big step, throwing his right balled fist in direction of her face, but her reaction was really fast and frightening indeed.

Within one moment she gracefully moved slightly to the side, gripping his wrist hard, pulling his arm down while bringing up her right knee up to his elbow at the same time, breaking it with a dull crack. The following inhuman cry made me realize that, the moment I instinctively closed my eyes in sympathy, she twisted his forearm brutally around, worsening his pain as well as preventing the guy from falling to the ground. He seemed to act on human instinct, for he tried to withdraw from her, creating enough space between both of them for her to kick him directly in the usually unprotected and delicate area of his throat. The cry died down and the moment she let him finally go down to the floor, it was clear as to why she waited with setting her foot back on the ground: just when he was about to fall on his knees, she changed really fast into the for it typical stance and connected with a clean roundhouse kick right to his left temple, finishing him off.

I often saw those martial artists breaking many wooden plates with one single strike of the hand, so it was most likely that a kick like that – especially from a combat-experienced ex-HiME – had enough power to deliver a devastating blow to a human skull. With luck he only had a non-lethal fracture of the left side of his skull, a heavy concussion and was out of it for several weeks, although it seemed most likely that he wouldn't open his eyes ever again.

"Very impressive, Fujino-san. I can't even recognize your style, yet you freed yourself from caption and killed four skilled fighters within under a single minute time." the remaining man with the tantō said, still in a ready pose, but not attacking at all.

"Ara, everything is a matter of staying on edge. And believe me, with every kill the next one will always be easier." she replied with a wry smile, shoving a loose strand of hair out of her face with her left hand.

"I see. And here I thought your father was the monster. Nevertheless, I will fight with you, for I know that you would eventually hunt me down and kill me without mercy anyway." the man answered, his calm attitude unchanged.

"Oh? But your plan has a flaw. Did you already forget that, in case you 'defeat' me, Otou-san will do ugly things to you?" Shizuru now grinned.

"Don't get me wrong, Fujino-san. All that is left is to protect my pride and honour, for I have lost my life the moment we stirred the monster awake. There is no hope to further survive this day. This is the truth I have come to accept; this is the way of a true samurai." he proudly announced, readying himself for the upcoming duel.

"How honourable of you. Whoever your master was, he did well with his training. A pity Seppuku won't be necessary once I'm done with you, though." Her voice had an icy edge to it and her body visibly tensed. They could attack each other every moment now.

"So you claim to be stronger without knowing my true strength? That hubris… Unlike you I had a glimpse at how you fight, so I am at an advantage here." Her opponent seemed to believe he had the upper hand. However, Shizuru was still an ex-HiME, thus a normal human's five senses would never compare to those of her. He was to pity.

"Ara, you are quite the tactician, to sacrifice your friend's lives in order to increase your chance to finish this dispute in your favour, considering that you will die either way in the end. What an irony." It was a shallow smile she gave him.

Her opponent wasn't affected by it, though.

"It was not me who killed them, altogether. It was the cold-blooded you, Fujino-san."

"If it is for Natsuki, I will enjoy tearing you apart, nameless foe."

Considering the mess she caused, _that_ was a somewhat frightening prospect. I prayed that she would rather go and buy some flowers instead of doing _that_ in order to prove her love. At least in the future, for flowers wouldn't do any good at our current little predicament.

Anyway, with her last statement she went into her strange fighting stance, flexing her hands and falling back to her usual concentration. Her smile vanished, so that she could focus on the task of fighting this seemingly strong guy.

At the exact same time both of them stormed at each other, he with his tantō pointed at her throat, she without any visible offensive move. However, when he was about to sink the blade in her flesh, she abruptly stopped and released her momentum in a roundhouse kick to his upper left arm, avoiding his attack and delivering a blow altogether. Before he could even change to a defensive position, another kick followed, this time from the other direction. This attack, too, hit him hard and unexpected.

His strong grip at his weapon didn't falter, though the moment her left hand slung around his right wrist indicated his nearing end, for this was exactly how she killed the last attacker. The last thing I saw, before I averted my eyes to avoid seeing what followed, was his shocked expression. Two kicks executed with such a precision and speed... I understood his disbelief. Shizuru once deflected bullets I fired at her with her heavy naginata... really, that were strength and a speed he never knew existed.

In any case, though I didn't see what happened, my mind's eye created the pictures according to the sound of cracking bones and the choked cries anyway. But this time it wasn't the same, for she didn't leave it with one broken bone. Just like the continuous cracking of bones, the muffled cries of agony never came to an end, telling me that he still had to endure this torture while in full possession of all of his senses.

I could imagine that he never saw a HiME – or an ex-HiME for that matter – fight with everything she got. His eyes couldn't have been able to follow her moves, after all. It was an interesting fact, one that I would be well advised to always remember.

When the man's panting body finally hit the ground, silence returned again, a silence Shizuru's voice penetrated soon.

"A modified version of Krav Maga, mixed with basic elements of armed combat and traditional martial arts, a unique style I created in the past. I refused to learn some antique technique just to show it off to some snobs and old men. Thus, the main purpose is to defend myself from armed attackers using all kinds of weapons, even modern ones, without being armed on my own. However, the philosophy isn't one of self-defence, but one that tells me to crush my opponent to dust, to kill them efficiently."

While Shizuru explained her fighting style – a last pay of tribute to what was probably a descendant of a noble family of samurai – she closed the gap of several meters to the next loaded gun lying at the ground, picked it up, checked its safety and made her way back to the wounded fighter, pointing the weapon at the dying man's head.

"Sayonara." With a single pull of the trigger, she took another life. She didn't even did as much as flinch.

Then she looked at my direction, her eyes widened when she saw the remainder of my tears still in my face, smiled then brightly and completely ignored the still bleeding Wáng-guy. I still held the other guy captive, so I thought it best to stay still where I was, just waiting for the events to unfold. But above all, I silently was relieved that I never had to fight with her again and that she would never fight me with all she's got due to her love towards me. Otherwise, it would certainly get ugly.

"Stand up and move over there." my girlfriend commanded and he complied despite me having the tip of a gun pressing at his temple. Her commanding aura was impressive, in extreme situations as well as in bed.

'_Damn, where did that one come from?!'_

When he slowly moved past Shizuru, she pointed her weapon at the back of his head, before she began to speak in the dangerous low tone of hers.

"You have no idea how much I despise you for ruining our morning and making my Natsuki cry."

I had neither the time nor the motivation to stop her, when the trigger was pulled once again and parts this guy's brain sprawled all around in a mix of blood and bone. He keeled over and kept lying there unmoving. Without further ado she moved to the injured guy, who was still sitting on the ground, trying to keep his consciousness in spite of the rather large loss of blood.

"Wáng-san, do you want to know your daughter in the care of an orphanage?"

When he didn't respond, she proceeded.

"Then I would advise you to call Otou-san now, since there are a few things I would like you to tell him."

The weakened man nodded and answered her with a voice that gave away his stress and tiredness.

"In the left pocket of my jacket you will find a mobile phone. You see, I am in no position to do anything right now, so forgive me for not being able to do as you asked." he answered weakened, panting heavily.

"Is that so, Wáng-san? Very well, I will make the call myself, then." With this she stepped closer and fished the device out of his pocket, still keeping the gun pointed at him. We really were lucky that it was a Sunday morning. No people were around and I think it was better that way.

She pressed the numbers this Wáng-guy told her and then she made the call. All of us waited in silence.

* * *

When somebody took the call, but didn't utter any response, I knew that it had to be Otou-san. With a smile on my lips I decided to greet him properly.

"It has been a while, Otou-san, hasn't it?"

"Shizu- ru?" He sounded genuinely surprised, something I have never heard before. My smile broadened.

* * *

_Tant__ō_ – A traditional Japanese dagger/knife with a 6-12 inches long blade, sometimes even double-edged. In this case, it is a standard one-edged weapon.

_Seppuku_ – Ritual suicide the samurai often committed when they failed their master or lost their honor due to other reasons such as crimes or defeat in a fight. They also used it to prevent getting captured by the enemy.

_Shizuru is still psycho!_ – Yes, she is. Why shouldn't she do everything to protect the one she loves, anyway? Maybe the means are somewhat extreme, but that is Shizuru, so deal with it. :-)

_Natsuki is taking Shizuru's killing-spree rather well_ – Nobody said Natsuki was normal either. Her childhood was far more 'mature' than everyone's, including Shizuru. She knows what it takes to survive.

_Shizuru is so strong, I cannot believe that_ – Yes, since Mai HiME is all about magical girls, monsters and conspiracies, I gave the ex-HiME a rather large power up in the section of movement, strength and their five senses. They **aren't invincible or immortal**, though.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** I have to admit that although most of the upcoming chapters are already written, the release of this one was delayed at first by my exams and then by the following whiff of laziness to proofread it so to speak. And when I finally wanted to make the update public, I got a variety of the following login-errors:

"Login/submission area is currently inaccessible due to a technical glitch. We apologize for the brief inconvenience. Please come back in a few minutes."

"408 Request Time-out"

"503 Service Unavailable"

Just when this was about to be solved, my employer filed for bankruptcy – great. ^^

After the initial shock, it was clear that there was near to nothing that I could do to change that, so I could release the next chapter so that you at least would have an enjoyable time. To compensate you for the waiting time, I extended this chapter a little bit… it should be one of the longer chapters I released until now – I hope you like it. :-)

On a side note, at this point there were only four or five chapters to go (excluding the epilogue). I felt saddened by that, mostly due to the (at least I felt that way) massive lack of ShizNat doing things like shopping, going on a date or simply enjoying their time together. This is where I thought it nice to add two or three chapters to Overcome Destiny, where they simply do some fluffy and nice things, undisturbed and in peace. That's said, despite being in the second part of the storyline, you should still anticipate another seven or eight chapters from now on plus an epilogue.

And again thank you for your constant support and you bearing with me and my spelling/grammar errors, I really appreciate it. ;-)

* * *

_Place in front of Natsuki's garage 'Kuga's maintenance' - present - 9.57 a.m._

* * *

_Chapter 11_

"Shizu- ru?" He sounded genuinely surprised, something I never heard before. My smile broadened.

"I didn't know that I already stained our family name for you to justify your intervention. If I recall correctly, our agreement didn't include a kidnapping on the second day of my leave."

He snorted, but restrained himself from speaking with me. It was endearing to know that he still despised me.

"But I didn't only call to tell you that I am doing well at the moment, but that you have around one hour to clean up the mess you forced me to cause before the police will start to investigate why there is half a dozen of corpses lying around. And don't forget to fish for the one swimming somewhere in the canal. You see, he ran out of luck last night."

"So at least you showed some resolve, ungrateful thing. That's fine, I will see to it personally then. My original plans didn't change, though you bought yourself a delay of some days with the lives you have taken today."

He sounded like he had a foul mood. It was understandable, although he would never admit that.

"There is one thing I wanted to ask you, Otou-san."

With a huff he agreed to at least hear me out.

"You see, Wáng-san is still alive and since he isn't able to move properly, I am unsure of what I should do with him. So, do you have any suggestions regarding this matter?"

"It is surprising that you let him out of all people alive. Whatever, he can be of use for a last service, so let him live."

"Why, thank you for your altruistic act, Otou-chan."

"Don't get too cocky, girl. If you get into trouble and the press gets their claws on you, it will reflect ill upon me. You are smarter than to think that I had something left for the abnormal likes of you."

"That's a shame, but it doesn't matter as long as my girlfriend is with me, you know?"

"Oi, Shizuru, stop mocking that old bastard!", Natsuki nearly yelled, fumbling around with her arms.

"It seems that my girlfriend doesn't like you, either."

"You are walking a dangerous path, Shizuru. I will _not_ tolerate this insolence and I _will_ punish you for this, remember that!"

"Then let me tell you this as a last thing: I will kill everyone you send to disturb our togetherness."

When I hang up on him, Natsuki went all out, still fuming.

"Don't say such a thing, Shizuru, damnit! I won't let you kill people randomly… look at this mess, who will take care of it?!"

"Ara, Natsuki isn't fond of seeing bloody corpses and ragged bodies?"

"Quit joking about that, I'm serious."

With a nod I lowered the weapon, directing my voice towards Sergay Wáng.

"Otou-san wants you to stay alive and Natsuki will surely be angry with me if I produce another corpse, so you are free to go, Wáng-san. I won't guarantee your safety, though, in case you decide to show up here ever again. Farewell."

Now there was nothing left but to wait for somebody getting the cleanup done.

* * *

_Natsuki's apartment - present - 10.47 a.m._

* * *

Both of us were in my apartment again, saying nothing. The silence hung heavy in the air, while we avoided looking directly into each other's guilt ridden face.

"Natsuki… I'm sorry for letting you see this side of mine – again."

"There is nothing to apologize for, Shizuru. To be honest, I already thought about how to make them pay for taking… you away from me."

Shizuru said nothing for a moment, but after a long and tired sigh she responded in a quiet and gentle voice.

"To think that I was the reason for you shedding tears… I hope that will never happen again."

She was right, I never so much as cried before about anything. Without a word I smiled at her, showing her that everything was alright now. So she did.

The television was turned on, so that we wouldn't have to sit around in complete silence. It was difficult to find coherent words expressing one's mind after witnessing your girlfriend kill six people in cold blood, admitting another kill the night before by the hands that made lovingly breakfast for you the next morning.

But I was no saint, either, and above all still thankful that I hadn't los her. Not that I ever had such a high… number of victims falling by my own hand, but that doesn't count, I think. We did what we had to do in order to survive, to not only save our very life, but that of our most important person, too. Today we fought a battle to preserve our new and yet old love, to ensure our undisturbed togetherness for at least another few days, until that old man of hers will make another attempt to take away from me what is most important. Would that fact alone justify another kill? Would she forgive me if I killed her father? In theory, could I forgive her if she killed my mother to prevent her from selling me to Searrs? That's hard to tell… I will try to find the answer to this question another time. There were more pressing matters at hand, now.

Our eyes fell onto the urgent news, which popped up just this moment. It wasn't enough to make them disrupt the morning program of Fuuka Local TV, though it was sufficient to blend the commonly used stripe of letters floating at the bottom of the screen, making the letters go from left to right.

It simply read: _'terrorist act in the outskirts of Fuuka City – seven civilians died – wounded terrorist Sergay Wáng seized by special police forces several minutes ago'_

So they meant that by calling him useful. Considering everything what happened down there, they were really fast to bend reality to their wishes. I wondered how many of the other news I regularly read or heard were the whole truth?

"Just about an hour and the feared men in black were there. That means that Otou-san's men were already in position, observing the situation. Those thugs were probably the decoy without even knowing that." Shizuru noted, breaking the stillness of my, no, our apartment.

"Ah. But I still wish I could have killed the bald guy myself." I said bitterly, thinking back at today in the morning, when this bunch of idiots disturbed us.

"Why… would you say such a thing, Natsuki?" she asked with her eyes widened in irritation.

"You were focussed on this Wáng-guy, so you didn't notice… the way he stared at you, it was disgusting. Nobody has the right to look at you this way, no one!"

It was true, I really did want to finish him off on my own. Never did I feel jealousy to this extend before.

"Thank you, Natsuki." A big and warm hug, followed by a peck on my cheek, was my reward. I should listen to my dark side more often, if it comes to possessiveness of Shizuru. I ignored my reddened cheek… well, I tried to ignore them at least.

"Ah. But we should think about what we will do next, how to prepare against their next attack or… well, how to prevent them from trying it ever again."

After a brief period, during which neither of us said anything, it was Shizuru who raised her voice again.

"You mean… strike them at their base or something like that?"

She eyed me with a thoughtful expression, tipping her chin with her index finger.

"Y- yeah, something like that." I answered, feeling ashamed of myself from even proposing such a thing. It was a selfish thing to ask of her, after all.

From the way she sighed I could tell she was tired. After the adrenaline wears off, tiredness will always kick in threefold, especially in the aftermath of a massacre you caused in the first place.

"Natsuki, I'm not sure if it is a good idea to go home and attack my own father, as much as I despise him for what he was trying to do. Though he lacks practise at his martial arts, I'm really sure that my influence wouldn't be sufficient to mach or even surpass his."

"You mean… he is stronger than you?"

Disbelief must have been present on my face, for when she giggled I felt like little child, who was about to be scolded for a wrong answer.

"That's not what I meant, at least not in the way you think we measure power. Actually, I am pretty certain my background as HiME, my youth and the lack of hesitation make me stronger than him, but to beat an opponent like him, I would need more influence within the Fujino-family."

Not grasping what she meant, I asked another question.

"You are the heiress of the whole business empire, so why do you need to gather influence at this point?"

Shizuru tightened her embrace, nuzzling my left ear with the tip oh her nose. After giving my earlobe a soft bite, she proceeded with her explanation.

"Well, despite being his sole child and a member of the main-family, I didn't provide anything of value to our clan yet. I will have to prove my worth to them. Usually, as a woman you achieve this by choosing a proper husband, giving the clan an heir and then working fulltime for the company, but I did neither."

"And… do you plan to…"

Before I could go into panic-mode, Shizuru managed to calm me down.

"Ara, I'm not interested in taking over the whole business anyway, so there is no point in speaking about that. My future lies within you, Na-tsu-ki."

We remained silent for another ten minutes, enjoying holding each other after nearly being broken up by force.

"But by saying "prevent them from trying ever again" you meant killing Otou-san, right?" she asked out of a sudden, not loosening her arms around my exhausted body.

"…"

It was hard to answer this question in all honesty. I was still lost in thought as to how I could respond to her question the best, when she started speaking again.

"I can see it in your face. I even sympathize with you in that point. However, who is going to clean up the mess once he and all his important connections are gone? As I said, I lack the right influence to avoid being sentenced to jail when I kill him."

This was something I hadn't thought of before. Back then I could do what I wanted, since I had the backup of the First District. They did everything to cover up those incidents caused by the HiME. Hell, they even managed to downplay the assault of heavily armed Special Forces, tanks, battleships and Alyssa's child's attack, which was everything but a modest display of Searrs' power.

With that gone, it was the political influence of Shizuru's father's that kept our records clean. It would prove to be a complete disaster if he were ever to be rendered incapable of stemming the oncoming force of law.

That meant, in short, that we were sitting ducks, waiting for being attacked over and over again.

"I see." was all I could muster up my strangled voice to reply.

"Therefore, I will take the risk and try to live with you rather than being separated from you for sure. I'm sorry there isn't much I can do about our situation."

Closing my eyes and inhaling her fragrant scent helped me to fight against the rising distress.

"It seems that we don't have a choice in that matter. But I want you to know that I will gladly risk everything to be with you, Shizuru, even my life." I whispered into her ear, meaning every bit of it.

"Natsuki… I will never be able to repay you for your kindness, when you keep being far too nice to me."

Her voice was shaky and barely audible. I could tell that she was not far from crying. A crying Shizuru wasn't something I could ever handle… most likely I would start shedding tears, too. Thus I had no choice but to steer our topic into a much safer direction.

"Well, for once you could help me out with the garage. You mentioned that you have some skills repairing your racing machine, so-"

I was effectively silenced by a strong, demanding and literally breathtaking kiss.

* * *

_Front of Sergay Wáng's flat - present - 6.30 p.m._

* * *

Nina came home from cram school when she found the front door to her small flat widely open. A police officer was blocking her way in. She came to a stop immediately when she felt a strong grip at her right shoulder, making her head turn to look at whoever was touching her.

"Nina Wáng?" the deep voice asked her before she could even make out the whole stature of the man behind her. All she could see was the typically beige trench coat, the same-coloured hat and a day's growth of stubble on his cheeks and chin. His bloodshot and baggy eyes gave away that he didn't have much sleep the past few days.

She only nodded in silence. With a nod he proceeded.

"Detective Oshigawa, department for murder and inner security." he spoke, holding some sort of ID card before her eyes to identify himself.

"Did… something happen to father?" she asked with wide eyes and an unsteady voice.

"Please, come in, there is no need to talk about that out here, isn't it?" Though he smiled, the smile didn't reach his eyes. It was his job, after all, and he did that kind of talk probably every day. With her gaze downcast, she followed him inside.

He led her to the kitchen, where he offered her a seat. He, too, sat down, but he didn't even remove his hat.

"Miss Wáng, I am deeply sorry to be the messenger of bad news, but your father is in a hospital facility at Fuuka city's jail. Once he recovers, he will be transferred to Sapporo's high security jail, where he will be charged for treason, murder, committing a terrorist act and illegal possession of firearms. Since you aren't of age yet, we will take you to an orphanage while we search for a foster family for you. I'm sorry that I don't have better news."

"Why…"

"Well, around 10 p.m. today he took six civilians hostage and executed them when we refused to give in to his demands. What it was that he wanted, that I cannot tell you, but it was something the intelligence service wasn't willed to give away. After a brief shooting, he fled wounded. Half an hour later we were able to seize him near a factory hall."

"Why… Fuuka?"

"The government has a military base there, so it is likely that what he searched for is to be found at said outpost. I can't tell you more, though, for they didn't explain everything in detail even to me."

"Can I… see him?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Wáng. At least not until he has recovered, I mean. If and when you can visit him in jail, that is beyond me right now."

"Daddy… how… why?"

"I will wait for you outside. You have around one hour to pack everything you want before we depart. After this, we will seal this apartment until further notice."

Nina only nodded, still too shocked to even cry.

* * *

_Natsuki's garage 'Kuga's maintenance' - three days later_ _- 11.27 a.m._

* * *

The following days proved to be very peaceful and it is no understatement to say that I never experienced such tranquillity. Of course, working this hard for the first time in my life wasn't easy and repairing various models of bikes forced me to learn many things in a short timeframe, but even then I enjoyed it, since it was Natsuki who was constantly around, teaching me many things, especially those small hidden things only a true expert could introduce you to.

We worked every day and also most of the nights to catch up our work, but that didn't matter to us. We had each other and that was enough. Of course, the business went rather well, considering that it were two girls now instead of one. It was astonishing to see our reputation grow this fast in only a few days.

When thinking about all of that, my heart became very warm and for the first time ever I felt honestly loved and accepted with all of my faults and flaws, however minor or major they were. She gave me all I needed and I freely surrendered everything to her.

It was during those thoughts when I noticed the dark-clothed person in front of the garage, coming slowly closer. Since we were literally in constant danger, both of us had a small handgun with us. Not that I would need it to finish some lesser fools, but Otou-san doesn't make the same mistake twice – ever! Sending tired part-time criminals, who expected two mere girls, was most likely just a small test to see the level of resistance. Next time should prove to be a lot harder.

My right hand felt the rough and cold texture of the weapon hidden in one of the wide pockets of my working suit, when I straightened up and scanned the area for further intruders with my eyes.

Currently Natsuki was up in the apartment to fetch something to drink, so I was alone for now. I was relieved due to this fact, for I couldn't stand the thought of our roles being reverted. To think that Natsuki would be alone against those who dared to stand up against me on her own…

The person now entered the garage and I still couldn't identify him, though I could tell from the way he carried himself that it was most certainly a man.

"Good afternoon. Can I help you, sir?" I greeted him with my usual mask of friendliness, hiding the tension building up within my body.

"Ah." he said, shoving his somewhat scruffy long hair out of his face. When I recognized him, I let go of the weapon and tried to think of a reason why it was him out of all people that paid us a visit.

"Takeda-san?"

Now that I come to think of it, I didn't even remember him having shoulder-length hair in the first place. Not that I paid any attention to anything back at the HiME meeting, to be honest. All I remember is Natsuki's face in at least one hundred and seventy-eight different colours, ranging from crimson-red to pure white.

"Ah." he answered, his tone still sounding very depressed.

"Erm… how can I help you?" Uncertain of what to do with him, I decided to stay polite. The moment he insults Natsuki, however, would be the moment I would ki- eh, take care of him. Send him home, I mean.

"How are you… and Kuga-san?" he asked, staring into my eyes with such intensity I've never seen in his.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what-"

"You know what I mean, Fujino-san. The dead people…" his voice become silent. I thought I knew what he tried to say.

Originally I wanted to send him away, to let my jealousy get the better of me, to keep my Natsuki to myself, to keep the privilege of being the only one who is allowed to show something like concern towards her, to scratch his eyes out for his mere presence, but… I knew the pain of unrequited love very well, the torture of not receiving any love from the only person you longed for. Unlike me, however, he lost this chance to get what his heart wanted so badly, and yet he was still concerned about her well-being. He was stronger than I thought.

My gaze softened and I let out my breath I didn't know I held.

"Takeda-san, I thank you for your sympathy. We were lucky that day and nothing happened to us, even though such a terrible thing occurred directly in front of the garage." I began.

When he nodded, I smiled and chose my words well. I wouldn't do any good if the truth came out… the fewer people knew of the problems I had with my father, the better.

"The police took great care of everything and the culprit was arrested, so I hope something like this won't repeat."

"But its funny, isn't it? Since Nagi and his crazy festival it seems that violence and blood is following your every step. Kuga-san never came to rest and as far as I know, nobody of the other ex-HiME's found everlasting peace either."

"What a pessimistic way to see our lives, Takeda-san." I said, smiling at the sad truth of his words.

He smiled back and turned without a word to go. And when he was gone, I was left with the knowledge that unlike him I got what I desired. I had Natsuki, while he had nothing.

It was the first time I felt something like sympathy towards him.

"Who was that?"

I turned around to see Natsuki stepping out of her hiding place, two bottles of soda in her hands. It seems she waited in case the situation would require her to intervene. Fortunately, it didn't.

"It was just Takeda-san." I said, unsure about how I should proceed.

"What did he want?" Natsuki asked blatantly.

"Well… he asked about our well-being. That's all."

After a brief period of silence, Natsuki nodded and gave me the bottle full of refreshing, cool soda.

"Did you manage to find what's wrong with the Yamaha?"

Takeda's visit long forgotten, she leaned on a nearby workbench, popped her bottle open and took two deep gulps, before my sweet girlfriend smiled and waited for me to answer.

I was to repair a rather old Yamaha motorbike and had a rather hard time in finding the cause of its problems. Of course, Natsuki knew where to look, but I had a long way to go, after all.

"I have to admit, my knowledge of motorcycle's bodies is by far surpassed by my extensive knowledge of Natsuki's body."

I loved her cute blush and after being stuck without her for more than five minutes, I just needed to embarrass her. It was an addiction, so to speak. Needless to say that Natsuki didn't disappoint me with her reaction.

"B- baka." she whispered, certainly thinking about the more interesting things I did to explore her whole body and the funniest reactions.

"Do you know what motorcycles and my Natsuki have in common?" I asked, chastising myself for my inability to stop teasing her.

"I don't want to know that." Which meant 'Go ahead, I can't stop you anyway'. Her face was red and her eyes looked everywhere but towards me. Her shyness despite everything we did night after night was utterly adorable.

"I love to ride them both." I sensually breathed towards her, licking my lips in a way she always found seductive.

Too bad we had to deal with a huge workload, since I always dreamed about having 'wild action' at work.

* * *

_Detective Oshigawa's office - Kyoto Police Department - next day - 1.30 a.m._

* * *

"Oshigawa-san, here is the full report. Though most of it contained of classified files off-limits for us, I managed to get them out from an old hidden backup. The results are interesting."

Tokagara Ishida, our computer-expert, was a genius on his field. We were lucky to have him with us, especially since he was loyal. This loyalty to us came in handy whenever I had to check things the ministry of the interior or the intelligence service had their claws upon.

I mean, it was not that I didn't trust them, but there were still cases literally yelling something like 'I am fishy, check me out!'. Cases like Wáng's alleged act of terrorism. That whole thing was strange to begin with, not to mention that it was closed even before the full investigation started.

"Ah, thanks. You can go and rest for now, it will take a while until I read those." I said while turning my gaze towards the pile of reports and documents.

Tokagara left and so again I was alone in my office.

"Let's see what we have here…"

This was really a lot, but it was sorted by relevance, so it didn't took me the whole night to find what exactly was bothering me this much.

This Sergay Wáng seemed to have a connection to the Fujino-family's main branch, the most important part of the Fujino clan. They had a large international acting company with its head office located here in the town of Kyoto. Not that he was employed there on an official base… whenever he got into trouble, he was bailed out by men known in the underworld for working directly for Fujino Sajonji-sama himself. I have dealt with two of them several years ago, when they were involved in a series of murders amongst higher-ranked people in the business world.

But to summarize it: A man, who worked for someone really powerful with connection throughout the world of business and politics, was found by agents and Special Forces not even one hour after a serious crime took place. The body-count was seven – including the corpse from the river, who was killed the night before. Some of them had fractures; most of them were simply killed with a single bullet straight into the head, the rest by breaking their neck.

Was that something a heavily wounded man could do? Break other people's bones? To aim with such a precision while on the verge of unconsciousness due to a potentially lethal wound? And why were those agents from the intelligence services there in the first place? And why did they keep the forensic people away from that place? Where was the murderer's weapon?

Furthermore, the crime scene was directly in front of a garage, which belonged to a young woman, who – coincidentally – was the daughter of a famous politician. But that wasn't all… the only child and heir of the Fujino business empire, the genius girl Fujino Shizuru, was – lo and behold – there to visit this girl, who was coincidentally her childhood friend, for a few days. And that garage was near the canal, where they found that other body, though this unlucky young man died approximately ten hours prior to his companions. Not to mention that he also was from Kyoto and seemed to have connections to Wáng-san reaching back to several years past.

Did he plan on kidnapping his boss's daughter, to blackmail him for ransom? And when his comrades proved to be loyal to the family, did he kill them all? And that was just one possibility there…

It was much more behind it than on first glance, and as such worth an investigation, I decided. Whoever it was who killed those men, I would find and arrest them.

* * *

_Natsuki's father a famous politician_ - What if I told you that both of them will eventually meet? I don't want to spoil anything, so of course I won't say how good or bad their relation is. :-)

_No Takeda-bashing today?_ - Well, he is to pity, but he isn't a bad guy, so I had mercy on him and decided to give that poor bastard some screen time. :-D


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** There is not much to tell, except maybe for the turn my life has taken within the past half a year. Nevertheless I promised to finish this story properly and this is exactly what I will do. I thank all of you for bearing with me. :-) Enjoy!

* * *

_Natsuki's apartment – present – around 9 a.m._

* * *

_Chapter 12_

After that incident, we had our peace at last. Not that we didn't await something to happen again very soon, but according to her old man – however unreliable he proved to be when giving his word – we had a few days only for the two of us, peaceful and undisturbed. Well, at least I wanted to believe that he underestimated his daughter and never thought her capable of defending herself this vigorously, which would have forced him to change and delay his plans on short notice.

Anyways, there were more pressing matters at hand, like Shizuru trying to convince me that a whole day wasted on shopping was a great idea. As if!

"But I don't want that! I hate shopping and you know that!" I repeated myself for the umpteenth time that day.

Her smirk was the harbinger of evil, but I, the main hero, stemmed against impending doom with determination.

"Meanie… I will punish you for that, you know?"

I was strong and my resolution wouldn't waver. And until now her 'punishment' has always been the epitome of enjoyment, so why should I back away?

"As long I have don't have to go shopping, it's alright with me I guess."

Nonchalantly my gaze still lingered on the TV.

"Ara… then I will have to think of something special to deliver my punishment to my Na-tsu-ki."

They threatened to overwhelm the forces of good, but light would always triumph!

"Do as you wish, there is probably nothing worse than shopping."

However, the aura of evilness grew stronger and stronger every second… what did she mean with 'something special'?

"Well, we will see… I will see to it that we get some things to help me with my task, my love. Once I tell you what awaits you, there will be no backing away from it."

It was a dangerous path I was walking, but who said the fight of good and evil couldn't end lethal?

"Oh? I'm not impressed, you know?" I said, arching my brow in what would make a cocky expression.

The last battle was at hand, the war would be decided within the next clash of dark and light.

"Too bad, then… I will use the time we would have spent shopping with thinking about how to properly deal with you during one of those nights, my stubborn wolf. I have a feeling that it will involve the whole repertoire, starting with a collar and a leash. I have also a feeling that I will not stop with those handcuffs, anal toys and hot wax."

…and the forces of good retreated after a horrendous defeat.

"Eh?! W- wait! Shizuru, that's not funny!"

Panic seized the hero. I mean, those things sounded awful and nasty.

"You are right, Natsuki, it is not."

The hero's last fight with the end boss was fought.

"B- but! Why the leash! And there is no need to restrain me… and I have a very bad feeling about this anal-stuff!"

"It won't be anything like the thing with the negi. This time I will use proper lubrication to make it a most memorable experience for you, my cute little wolf."

With excitement the hero became enslaved by the queen of darkness. Well... that's Shizuru for you.

"What the-!"

"I'm fine with you refusing to go shopping with me, but you knew the consequences beforehand. Afraid of your punishment now, little Suki?"

Her evil smirk mocked me, challenged me. It was something I couldn't just ignore or run away from!

"B- baka! Of course not!"

"Ara, it's settled then."

It felt like I had agreed upon selling my soul to the devil, merely waiting now for her to come and collect it.

It felt… surprisingly great.

* * *

_In front of Natsuki's garage – present – around 2 p.m._

* * *

There it was: said garage.

I didn't have the opportunity to see it for myself yet, so it filled me with a kind of unknown nervousness. This whole thing was suspicious to start with and I investigated on the ground of unofficial reports. Not to mention that I would certainly be in trouble if I ever were to piss off one of those girls, provided they had good relations to their powerful fathers that is. Since I wasn't known as being optimistic, I assumed they had.

This case was too important, however, to let it go just like that, so I thought it best to approach them directly.

I took a good look at the building, taking in the peaceful scenery. There was this garage, where two people were working on some motorbikes, most likely those I was here for in the first place. Otherwise there were no traces that just a few days ago a massacre happened right where I was standing.

Shaking my head at this facade I went on, catching the fragments of what seemed like a light-hearted conversation.

"...still hate shopping, Shizuru." one of them said.

The response came immediately.

"You didn't want yesterday, so why not tomorrow? There is no harm in accompanying me."

"That's just an excuse to triple the amount of things you will buy, since somebody is there to help you carry it."

Well, giving it a second thought, it sounded more like some sort of disagreement over something trivial like shopping. However funny I thought it would be to stay still and follow their little conversation, there were more pressing matters at hand, forcing me to interrupt them.

"Good morning, dear ladies." I greeted them and both stopped working on their respective bikes to cast me a curious look. A carefree bunch they were, considering what happened here not so long ago.

While the tawny-haired one returned to her work, the other girl cleaned her hands and took several steps closer towards me.

"Mornin', Sir. What can we do for you?"

She certainly didn't look like a scared girl traumatized from an act of barbarism.

"Ah, good morning to both of you, dear ladies. Let me introduce myself to you first, Kuga-san. I am Detective Oshigawa, department for murder and inner security. Right now I am about to clarify some inconsistencies within a certain case and I hoped you could help me and lend a hand there."

Her semi-friendly smile vanished and her composure became cautious and tense. Her companion, most likely Fujino-san, also stopped working now and scrutinized me with her intense eyes. I wasn't very welcome here, it seemed.

When they didn't say a word, I thought it best to press the matter.

"Did someone of you have had any encounter with Sergay Wáng before that fateful day?"

"I take it that you doubt the reports of him being a terrorist, then?" Fujino-san spoke, while the other one still remained silent.

"No, that's not it. We still don't know anything about his motives and he isn't a talkative guy, if you know what I mean."

It was now Kuga-san who spoke.

"We don't know him, so we have no idea as to why he would do such a thing. Was that all?"

"Unfortunately not, since I have a few more questions. Forgive my rudeness, though, but I have to follow the protocol."

"Whatever… just do it quick, alright?" she answered with a heavy sigh.

"I will do my best, then." And I had to finish before their patience ran out. What an uncooperative pair, though… did they have something to hide, maybe?

"Did you know that Wáng-san received his orders from your father, Fujino-san?"

Though it was mostly based of mere speculation, I was still interested in their reaction. And I wasn't disappointed: Kuga-san tensed and Fujino-san's stare grew more intense than before. Neither said anything, though.

"As far as we know, those killed men were all his comrades. That would disqualify the incident as an act of terrorism, wouldn't it?"

With a small smile I proceeded.

"Furthermore, we think it nigh impossible for a man wounded this heavily to cause such a mess anyway."

After a short period of silence I went for the goal.

"Considering those facts, Wáng-san isn't the one we search for, but the murderer is still hiding somewhere. What do you say to my theory?"

"It's just a theory, though, which has some major flaws." Fujino's daughter said.

"Oh? Humour me, then…" I replied nonchalantly, interested in her own analysis.

"For example, if this Wáng-san was really innocent, wouldn't he do everything to avoid being sentenced for life? Being silent in such a situation only makes sense if all he could say would just worsen his position, which I can't see to happen."

"You aren't wrong here, Fujino-san, as long as we assume that he was acting on his own. I, however, strongly believe him to protect something or someone with his silence. Then Wáng being silent would make perfect sense."

I hoped she would slip up, make the mistake to say something she shouldn't have, so stretching our talk was my primary goal.

"What's more interesting, Wáng-san's own gun had a full magazine when we found him and his weapon's profile doesn't match that of the murderer's."

"So we know that he didn't kill the victims with just this one weapon. That doesn't exclude the possibility of other guns he had with him. He could have thrown the _corpus delicti_ in the nearby canal to lessen the weight of the sentence or to hinder the ongoing investigations. It took the police nearly an hour to get him, after all. Plenty of time if you ask me."

"Not bat a theory. Anyway, I spoke with his daughter. She confirmed what we found: that he worked indeed for your father. What's funny, though, is that they deny even knowing him. Now I ask you, what do you think of that?"

"I never meddled with my father's business, so I wouldn't know." was her plain answer.

"Mhh, too bad then. But there is more…"

"As you can see, we have still much work to do, so…" Kuga-san threw in, her eyes speaking volumes about how much I was welcome.

"I apologise for wasting your time, ladies, but this is important. Over half a dozen people died and the culprit is still enjoying their freedom. How can anybody sleep peaceful like that, I ask you?"

My question was a rhetorical one, of course, but as always I was just interested in how they would react to it.

"We are feeling safe enough not to feel constantly endangered, thank you for your concern." The black-haired lady said, making it clear that my time with them would soon come to an end. So I needed to stretch my remaining time as much as possible.

"Really? I mean, there is a rumour about you having a disagreement of some sort with your father." I said, nodding towards Fujino-san. "And now we find a bunch of people dead… people who were comrades of someone who was said to work directly for the great Fujino-sama. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"

"Isn't it a bit on the naïve side to believe that you would ever get an answer to a question like that?" Fujino-san now asked back with a small grin on her lips.

"There is no harm in trying, altogether. All I say is that this whole thing is fishy as it is."

"But now I have a question I have to ask you, Oshigawa-san." She proceeded.

"Since you answered a few of mine, please don't hold back."

"How about this one: I thought this case was classified. Classified as in off-limits for common inspectors and detectives, I mean. That either means you are not who you told us you are or you are doing something that isn't approved officially by your superiors."

"You really are something, Fujino-san. It seems you made your homework better than I could imagine. A real genius, after all."

"Thank you for the compliment, but I am neither prone to flattering nor does that answer my initial question."

"Ah, I'm sorry. But just think about those things I said earlier. Someone like you must see that this case is far from closed. Wouldn't you have a great interest in blowing the murderer's cover, too? Whoever killed them could be after you, too."

"That also didn't answer my question, Oshigawa-san."

This kid was thick-headed and she knew far more than she was willed to tell me. An interesting fact. At least the whole way from Kyoto to Fuuka wasn't for nothing.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, Fujino-san, but I can assure you that I am officially allowed to lead this investigation."

"Is that so? Then do you best, Oshigawa-san. Cases like this one are a rough playground for those unused to its conventions."

"I apologize for misunderstanding you, Fujino-san, but that sounded like a plain warning." I said, letting slip out a low chuckle.

"Not at all. I just wanted to remind of the fact that you can always choose the game, but not the rules."

"It doesn't help to relieve the pressure from you, Fujino-san."

"Then let me put it this way: I'm a daddy's girl, whether I like it or not."

"Whatever, Fujino-san. It was a pleasure to meet you in person."

"Likewise, Oshigawa-san." Fujino-san replied with a warm smile. For people like her smiling like that was never a good sign. That was at least what my guts were telling me.

* * *

"An inconvenient type of detective, don't you think?" I said, still thinking about the man claiming to be a detective, currently working on the incident a few days ago. Didn't Otou-san take care of things like that?

"Inconvenient?! He is a pain in the ass, shoving his nose into affairs which are anything but his business!"

Natsuki was right, this was something he wasn't supposed to investigate. But what could we do about him?

"I thought Otou-san took care of people like him… seems like he overlooked this one. And in his case we cannot go ahead and stop him by force."

There was no harm in letting my usual confidence waver in front of my Natsuki. Having an opponent, but no means to remove them... truly inconvenient.

"Why don't give that old bastard a call? It's his fault anyway, so cleaning up the political fallout is his job and not ours."

Now that she brought this up... well, why not? It _is_ his mess after all, so why shouldn't he be the one to take care of the problem? He caused it in the first place.

"Mhh, that might actually work."

* * *

The phone rang again, even despite his direct order not to put through any calls. Eventually his hand gripped the phone shell.

"What is it now?"

Seemingly used to his constantly bad mood, the secretary kept up her professional façade and pretended that everything was normal.

"Fujino-sama, Shizuru-Ojou-sama wants to discuss an urgent matter with you."

Definitely surprised and with a small sliver of hope of resolving this minor crisis right away his mood actually brightened.

"I will speak with her." he simply declared, waiting for Shizuru. After several seconds her ever so cheerful voice crushed his small hopes of her regaining her sanity. He learned the hard way that a happy Shizuru was a dangerous and uncontrollable loose cannon, doing things seemingly randomly only to prove that everything went according to her plans afterwards. With her being this… well, happy… he didn't expect anything good of Shizuru, like her returning to her obedient state he once took for granted.

"Hello Otou-san. How are you?" she asked, way too kindly to be honest.

"With what do you want to darken my day now, child?" he responded with a question, ignoring her small tease.

"Actually I wanted to lend you a hand, since it seems that you weren't working thoroughly."

"And what is that supposed to mean? You are a real pain to deal with, don't make it worse than it already is."

"I'm glad that I have your constant attention… so many years have passed and I didn't get even a small fraction of this affection from you."

"Since you have no plans on coming back home, I take it that there is no 'urgent matter' to discuss?"

"Ara, so you still consider the mansion my home? I thought you told me to leave and never come back?"

He chastised himself for slipping up verbally, but ever since his whole dilemma begun, he had not much of a chance to get a decent sleep. Too late he noticed his senses dulling from exhaustion. And now that he actually tried forget this mess for at least two or three days, the cause of all of his current problems has nothing better to do than to play word-games with him over the phone.

"Since you have nothing of importance to say..."

He wanted to end this call, but Shizuru halted him.

"You are wrong, for there is something only you can help us with."

That caught his attention and he immediately asked further, though the phrase of 'helping' wasn't to his likings regarding his daughter.

"And why should I even think about the option of helping you?"

"Because a Detective Oshigawa is investigating the recent case of murder, where the murderer's weapon isn't anywhere to be found, where the 'terrorist' is said to have worked for you, who started to ask questions like 'You are suspicious, Shizuru-chan, don't you agree?' or 'Your father is the murderer, right?' and so on." she stated coolheaded in a matter-of-fact tone.

After giving it a thought for a few seconds, he sighed and wrote down something on his small notepad.

"Detective Oshigawa, you say? What an unfortunate man, reaching for heights he doesn't comprehend. Some people simply have no idea when to give up, it seems."

"Exactly my point." Shizuru agreed and, judging from her tone, did so with a smile on her lips.

"Don't think I do that for you, though." Sajonji threw in, reminding his offspring that a small agreement didn't mean he would let her be.

"You forced me to defend myself, so it is only natural for you to take care for what is left from your failed attempt to fix things in your favour." Her smile was still present from what he could hear.

"If we weren't tied to each other by blood, I would simply ignore you. I wish I could."

"That would be the greatest thing ever. Too bad we cannot cut our bonds with ease."

And that was the most frustrating point in this affair: Both hated each other, but he and his very own clan still needed her. Fujino Corporation was a global player, having more branches, splits and family members than one could ever count. He sat on top of that and he had two sacred obligations: further the goals of the corporation and ensure that his successor would be from his own flesh and blood.

He has seen good times as well as bad times, but Fujino Corporation was growing in the overall-picture. And to think that until recently his succession was also ensured...

"Shizuru, stop behaving like a child. I swear that I will kill whoever is together with you right now if you insist on refusing my orders like that."

"Harm her and I will kill you personally. If you are okay with that, go ahead and give it a try."

Though he scoffed at her statement, he knew she meant every bit of it. How truly regrettable that was.

"Whatever, I always get what I want and this is only a matter of time, even if you prove to be stubborn until the very end."

"I don't really care about you or what you want. Just keep this nosy guy away and everything is fine."

"He won't bother us ever again, but he is the least of your worries."

"You are right, of course. Right now I have the heavy burden of deciding whether we should try bondage or go with the strap-on-dildo tonight again."

Oh, this insolence... the grip on the phone tightened considerably.

"If it weren't for the money, I doubt anyone would ever want to bed someone with a mental defect like yours."

"Don't say that. I never imagined sex could be this relaxing… speaking of relaxing, you are too tense I fear. You should try to do 'something' about that, you know?"

Ah, that was too much... it was so hard to bear with her whims and teases. How he missed the old Shizuru, obedient and useful. Now she swung from one extreme to another, skipping each and every step in between.

"W- what… how dare you…"

"Natsuki is calling me, so I have to go back now. Bye, Otou-san!"

With a low growl he took the phone and threw it against the door leading out of his office, crashing the electric device on the very first try. However, the moment he wanted to make a call to handle the problem with the detective, his eyes fell on the broken phone lying several meters away from his desk.

Now his bad day was complete.


End file.
